A Changed Demon
by Haru's Doppelganger
Summary: After years in darkness under the leadership of Reisho, Jin and Touya may have just found a way into the light. Rated for initial references to rape and some gore, though it ends after about two chapters. DONE! Next read A Life To Call Their Own, pg13.
1. Shinobi Discovery

Shinobi Discovery

The sky was clouded and gray in this part of the Makai; not the bright gray that makes one squint their eyes, but darkened gray with large splotches of nearly black clouds. It had been raining harshly for nearly two days and was only now beginning to slow its pace. It was now at a light drizzle with the majority of the drops coming off of bits of burnt timber. The trees were blackened, their dark slightly charred and as one went toward the open clearing, about one mile in diameter all the way around, the foliage became more burnt than the plants before it. In the clearing itself remains of once simple structures stand charred; an obvious sight of how malevolent fire could be. Roofs were no longer existent upon the few still erect walls but instead were found in heaps of blackened coals. Amongst the dripping wet ruins lay bodies of the former inhabitants of the village. Men could be found still with weapons in their hands...though those hands were decapitated from the rest of some of the bodies. Mutilated some hanged on the walls while others simply lay in heaps on the ground. Piles of burnt flesh could be seen not far from the main village site. Women were seen mutilated, some still clutching dead children close to their bodies in some unsubstantiated belief that they would survive the onslaught. The smell of death mixed with fluids hung heavily in the air as if it were humid day despite the cold the rain was now bringing. This was the site that greeted two members of the Shinobi that day.

Jin and Touya stood together at the edge of the clearing near the still standing yet blackened trees. They had been called upon to go to this once peaceful village and help defend it from the impending attack. But they were sent off one day too late...the Shinobi masters in particular had protected this village. It had been a safe haven for lower demons, such as hanyous and mixed breeds. There had not been one pure blooded demon in the entire village since its creation nearly 37 years ago, thus there were few demons able to defend themselves from attack. Nothing would have even stopped influential humans, like those of Sakyo's circle, from rendering the village helpless and in need of aid. It was the job of the Shinobi to ensure something like this never happened...

The two demons still stood at the tree line, as if ashamed to enter the graveyard of the innocents who had died. Touya let out a breath he had been holding for quite some time. The initial shock of seeing the village in ruins had subsided and he decided that he should be the one to break this guilt-ridden silence between him and his partner.

"Jin..." The demon he was addressing flinched visibly. Though Touya shared in his comrade's shame, he was not as sensitive to such things as Jin was. Jin with his lighthearted nature did not take sites such as this as calmly as other Shinobi. He had seen just as much suffering, pain, blood, and gore as any other member of the order, but this fact did not make his conscious sit any easier. He looked upon the ruins before him afraid of what he would exactly find there. Now that their object of protection was destroyed, it was his and Touya's job to sift through the remains and report back to their superiors...in full gruesome detail.

"Jin...you know this has to been done. We may find something to lead us to the culprits." Touya said still staring ahead. Jin shifted his eyes sadly in Touya's direction. "I know you want to find these murderers and make them pay." Jin nodded slightly and took the first step forward. Touya raised one eyebrow in surprise...he had not expected Jin to be the first to go since it normally took more coaxing to get his mind back to the task at hand; he started right after his partner.

Jin and Touya walked through the first sections of the town but both stopped at the scent that reached their nostrils.

'The smell of blood, organs, burnt wood, charred flesh and...something...else.' Touya thought to himself as he smelled the air more with his demon senses. After another few seconds Jin gasped slightly and clasped a hand to his nose and mouth. Touya watched his friends as his brows furrowed in some deep despair. At first Touya was confused...he smelled the air again and still could not identify the mysterious odor. However, one glance at Jin told him to look toward the parts of roof covering the ground.

Touya tentatively lifted the roofing to look under and grimacing at what may lie underneath...once he lifted the roof enough to get a full blast of the odor Touya threw a hand to his mouth as he was about to vomit. The odor was now blatantly apparent...a young woman lay under the roofing with her legs splayed open.

The scent was that of semen and vaginal fluids. Her body was crawling inwardly and outwardly with grubs and insects already devouring her remains after the wet rains had begun. The offending liquids covered her lower extremities and her face. It was now apparent to Touya why the entire site reeked of this particular stench...all of the females had been raped.

Jin was unable to look at the body Touya uncovered and instead focused his attention at his clenching fists. These innocents had been slaughtered for now reason other than their blood heritage...and the rapes implied a further hatred...and desire to humiliate and degrade the victims before they were killed. How many of these women were mothers Jin asked himself. How many others had been raped with their children present? He gritted his teeth at the sudden realization that the demon hoard had most likely not discriminated between older females...and children. Jin awoke from his thoughts to find the woman covered again by the roofing and Touya wiping his mouth of the offensive bile he had just regurgitated.

Touya knew they could not bury the entire town by themselves and so they would have to finish recording their findings only to send a "clean up crew" later on to give all of the victims proper burials. Touya mustered up his strength as he saw Jin quickly wipe around his eyes.

"...Got some rain in my eyes..." Jin said softly. Touya knew better but said nothing of it.

.........................................

The partners spent the next three hours sifting through every inch and every corpse they found. As time went on the bodies became more and more mangled. The scent of fluids permeated the air and hung as a thick, invisible fog. Jin was grateful he had not eaten today. The bodies that were missing parts displayed signs of anguish on their faces, if they still had them, indicating that the victims had been alive while being raped and torn to pieces.

"Gee...better write this down in my handy journal." Jin said bitterly. Touya turned to his friend not twenty feet away with a knowing look. Jin out of all the Shinobi hated this line of work the most. He was the most spirited of the groups and thus had the brightest personality to crush within their dark world. The light seemed farthest away when viewed by Jin and Touya's grief was not far behind. Both wanted out so desperately, but being here seemed to put them in their place. At least they were still alive to dream and hope...for these innocent demons the dream was over.

Jin made his way to the end of the village after finally finishing the last of the preliminary report. Every gruesome detail was written down for the pleasure of reading aloud to his masters back at the Shinobi head quarters. Jin did not know if he could hold back the clenching feeling he got in his throat during these reports...often he wondered if reading aloud was just another way for his spirit to be broken by the lack of light. Touya was still doing his half of the village taking more careful and detailed notes than his friend...for Jin felt it was too vulgar to reveal the graphic nature of such tragic events. Touya had learned to detach himself for a time...at least long enough to get the job done.

While he was busy writing down the position of a males body he heard a muffled sniffle. He turned his head and looked around the corner of the building he was in to watch Jin as he turned his head up to the sky and closed his eyes. A small sniffle shivered through his body again as a few warm tears mingled with the rain drops on his face. Jin fell in a kneeling position to the muddy, blood stained ground. He bowed his head in a defeated manner, bringing one wet hand to hold his face.

Touya was concerned...Jin had never let something like this get to him. 'Then again he has never faced a site of this magnitude before either...for him this must simply be too much to take in.' He thought to himself. Touya stood leaving his notes behind and walked over to his comrade, standing close enough to let Jin know he was there but also far enough to give the wind master some space. Jin clenched his free hand into the dirt and blood; his body shivering like he was about to snap.

Touya watched this with sadness apparent on his face...then he jolted as he saw Jin's ears twitching; obviously not in a happy way but as if he were fine tuning them to some small sound.

"...uuunn..." A soft tone was picked up by Jin's sensitive ears and his eyes had opened widely as he still looked to the ground. His mouth parted slightly as he waited on baited breath desperate to hear that sound once more.

"....uuuaanmm..." Jin jumped up nearly knocking over Touya in the process when he heard that mumble again. Touya did not know what to say or do when he saw Jin dart his eyes and ears around so excitedly! What could possibly have gotten Jin so energetic now? Before Touya had a chance to said anything his partner began darting around the site on Touya's half of the ruins. He had not yet checked that area and perhaps Jin had picked up something...still alive. Though his exterior did not show it Touya's heart leapt at the thought that someone might still have survived amongst the debris.

"Jin what is it? Do you hear something?!" Jin shushed his partner almost harshly but Touya knew he meant nothing by it...he just needed to keep listening. Jin had closed his eyes and begun listening with a stern expression on his face. He concentrated as never before. He heard another mumble and immediately dashed over to one of the structures near the end of the village edge on Touya's partition. Jin stopped when he saw one side of a wall with roofing covering all of the other fallen walls. The wall that still stood held a doorway still and Jin walked through soon followed by Touya.

He stepped gingerly over each piece of the burnt remains careful not to tread upon a possible survivor. Jin's ears no longer picked up any mumbles but he smelled a faint scent that was slightly warm despite the cold rain. He followed this scent to the center of the crumbling structure. This house had been about thirty feet but twenty feet wide and looked as if it had held more than one family of hanyous. Jin could still see one strong bookcase on the ground as he moved through the arch ways of the house. The skeletal structure of the building was severely charred and appeared close to falling at any minute.

Touya began sniffing the air as well, searching for any signs of life that lay beneath the rubble. They both moved to the very back of the house and Jin sniffed a strong waft of air and began pulling planks of burnt timber back from a pile. Touya wordlessly followed Jin's example and dissembled as much as he could.

"....uun..." That sound was all that was needed to spur Jin into a digging frenzy. He had heard the mumble and now pin pointed its exact location beneath the pile of remains. He kept pulling and pulling at every plank of wood, not noticing the open cuts he was creating on his hands and arms in his haste. Touya followed suit and pushed whatever Jin pulled out away from the pile.

After what felt like an eternity to Jin he reached the last sheet of burnt wood that covered his target. With out hesitation he yanked it from what lay underneath...only to stop his breathing at what he and Touya both saw.


	2. Then the Rain Ceased

Then the Rain Ceased

Jin stared disbelievingly at the sight before him as his hopeful face fell. Touya's sad expression returned as he placed a hand on the other Shinobi's shoulder. What the two demons had found was what appeared to be a pile of cloth and sheets...most likely the remains of a crude bed. The sheets themselves were charred badly where the fire had caught on...but on top of the sheets clearly lay the marred body of a young woman. She was clearly long gone.

The sex of the demon could be determined by the deformed contours of the body...even in death her shape held a distinctly feminine form. Her flesh was black, malleable, and looked like tree bark...the scent of her death wafted up to Jin and Touya as if mocking them for having any hope at all. She lay on her front, knees drawn toward her stomach with her back raised in the air...as if she had been curling up into a fetal position before she died. The smell of blood and semen was strong here, and it appeared that the fire had stopped burning around the area of her hands, which were near her face, for they only had second-degree burns upon them. It was mostly the posterior portion of her body and her legs that were burned to a blackness, molding her extremities together reminiscent of Pompeii's victims. Some heat still radiated from the corpse due to the only recently doused fire.

"...The piles of wood must have kept her from getting wet in the rain...that would explain why she is still warm after all this time..." Touya said very quietly to himself. Though he could not discern what sound Jin could have possible heard besides the crackling of some still lit coals near the body. 'He must have heard the hissing of the embers being put out; to someone as hopeful as Jin that sound could have been the exhale of a still breathing creature.' He thought while kneeling to look at the corpse more closely.

'How horribly she must have died,' Jin thought. 'To think that this could be done to someone for no other reason than to cause pain...'

He simply stared helplessly at the dead and violated woman...his hopes had been raised then crushed even more potently than ever before. A light had been shown to him and foolishly he grasped for it thinking in all vain hope that he might actually find someone alive. He silently reproached himself for being so naive and also for bringing Touya's hopes up...Jin knew better than the other Shinobi that Touya would have been just as happy to find some survivor after all this death and despair. He squatted down next to Touya who was examining the woman's back.

"...I..." Jin started in a sorrowful, nearly cracking voice. Touya looked over at Jin with a helpless look in his eyes. He had no idea what to say or do; nothing would ever make Jin feel alright about this and certainly nothing would make any difference at this point. "...I...am sorry to you...for not bein' able to...protect you Miss..." he said directed at the body. "...If I had only come sooner..." he sighed looking up to the cloudy sky. Touya was afraid for Jin at this point. He had never heard the demon talk with such seriousness or sorrow. Whatever joy Jin had in his soul, his partner feared was now extinguished. "...Oh gods...please give me something to hold onto...there must be some...some purpose in this world for us...besides staying in the dark," his voice broke at this and Jin was unable to go on.

Then the rain ceased...and as if on cue, a mewl was uttered from beneath the dead woman's body. Though this time it did not stop, but continued. Jin snapped his gaze back down to the woman as Touya jumped back at the sound, almost afraid to hope. It was music to Jin's ears and he pushed aside more rubble near the woman's hands and moved to the right side of her body. He leaned down and peered underneath the front of her. There he found an answer to his prayers.

A small dark bundle of rags squirmed under the chest of the woman. Jin watched in awe as a small hand with second degree burns, reached out to touch the body above it. Jin was amazed that it was still able to move its arm with so many burns. This small bundle was warm to his senses and he reached through the woman's arms and under her carefully, clasping the small baby in his hands like he were holding the most precious of breakables. Touya moved back to give Jin some room. He looked on in awe that was plainly written on his face, at the now bare infant in Jin's trembling hands.

For a time all they could do was look at this baby girl. She was covered in darkened red and grime, and it was obvious she had not been touched by the flames, but by the sheer heat of the fire, that had once engulfed her. Her small body had some boils, patches of dirt, and wet soot. The rag she had been lying in was very damp. Touya looked again at the dead woman.

"She protected her baby from the fires by covering her in wet rags, then shielding her with her own body." Touya started to say. Jin looked up him. "They must have been trapped in here after the hoard set the village ablaze...that would explain the debris on top of them...the fire stopped after it had killed the mother." Touya stopped at this and leaned into Jin's side to look at the single survivor of this travesty.

"She seemed to think her mother was still...alive; with how she reached for her and all," Jin said sadly.

He looked back to the squirming baby who only appeared to be months old. The redness on her skin was a combination of blood and burns. They would have to clean her soon to prevent any infections. Then Jin noticed she was trying to make more whimpering sounds but something was impeding her. He became slightly panicked and turned to Touya.

"Touya, she's not breathin' right! Like she's got somethin' stuck in her throat," Jin said obviously worried. Touya with his calmer demeanor offered to take her from Jin.

"Here give her to me so I can check her," Touya said reaching out to hold the infant. Jin was reluctant at first then reminded himself that this was his long time partner and carefully passed the girl over to Touya's capable hands. He removed his cloak and lay in on the ground not far from the dead mother. The baby sounded like she was trying to cough something out, in all of her muffled moaning. Touya placed the girl on top of his cloak and positioned her head so that it created a clear path for air to flow in. Jin watched this in apprehension...he had no idea what Touya planned to do and hoped to the gods that it would work.

Touya took the smallest finger on his right hand and gently swabbed it through the baby's mouth. He was reaching down into her throat to try and dislodge whatever was stuck there. She coughed and gagged at this, and Jin started to become more worried.

"Touya what are you doin'? It sounds more like you're chokin' the poor girl!"

"Jin I am trying to clean out her throat without having to do any rescue breathing...this is the only safe way to do it." Touya continued his work until he felt something like mucus at the base of her throat. It was lodged all the way in the back and Touya reached in further to get it out. After a few more seconds of fidgeting the infant finally coughed it far enough so that Touya could clean it out. Once Touya had the offensive material in his hand the infant began to wail. Jin immediately took her back into his arms.

"Don't forget to support her head," Touya said absent mindedly, looking closely at the mucus like substance in his hands. Jin listened to his partner and readjusted the crying baby in his arms.

"Shh...it's alright little one. I know it must've been scary not breathin' and all but you're fine now. We have you safe and sound," Jin said quietly to the little girl. He did not seem the least bit embarrassed by his affection toward the infant in front of his friend. But Touya would not have even noticed; he was focused on other things.

"Jin, she needs to be thoroughly cleaned right now," he stated standing up while also looking down at his hand. His tone bridged no argument but Jin looked up at him in surprise.

"But Touya she's real upset right now...don't you think we should calm her first? The cold water can't be good at all for a child this little," Jin said still holding the crying babe.

"If it were just mucus I found in her mouth I would agree with you, but..."

"Well, what is it then?" Jin asked, wondering what else could have possibly been inside of the baby's throat.

"Jin..." Touya stopped unsure of whether or not to tell his comrade. 'This news might break what ever shred of faith he has left in his kind...but on the other hand I would want to know too.' Jin looked expectedly at Touya while he had begun to calm the infant in his arms. He stood up to look Touya in the eyes. Touya sighed inwardly.

"Jin...take a good hard smell of the scent around you." Jin complied and took a long whiff of the air. It smelled the same as before to him with blood, burning flesh, and semen in the air, but the scents themselves were a bit stronger near the dead woman.

"Smells the same to my nose...except the mother's body is a little more potent with us being so close and all."

"...The scent is not coming from the mother alone..." Touya said holding up his hand to Jin's face. The wind master took a look at the substance on Touya's fingers. Jin's eyes opened wide in shock then shifted to rage.

"The demon who raped her mother must have also..." Touya began, but was stopped by Jin's next outburst.

"Don't!" Jin yelled. Touya took a step back his eyes widened a bit. "I don't wanna hear this!" Jin was thoroughly disgusted. 'How could someone do that to a child no less...a baby? A pure, innocent little girl who had no choice in the matter. No wonder she's cryin' so hard.' He thought angrily. He clutched the infant closer wrapping her in his cloak protectively. His gaze softened a bit to hear her whimpering.

"She must've been so scared...I can't even imagine what her mother felt knowing what she was being put through," Jin said finally. Touya looked like he was about to throw up again, knowing what he had to do, but maintained his focus at the task at hand.

"Jin she has to be cleaned...there is no telling what diseases she could be catching from all of this filth. Let's take her to the stream in the woods over there and see what we can do," Touya persuaded, guiding his friend by the arm. This time Jin complied with the request and started off toward the stream with an unreadable look on his features.

* * *

They reached the stream and both decided that leaving her out of the water would be best since it was so cold. Jin and Touya took handfuls of water and showered them over the girl's body. Immediately the dirt began to clear away revealing her burned skin. Jin grimaced when he clean off the most offensive substance of all from her small stomach and chest. Touya meanwhile focused on her face and mouth, gently cleaning out whatever blood or semen could be found. Once he was satisfied with the condition of her face the baby was able to open her eyes again and look at Touya for the first time. He became a little uncomfortable with her intently curious gaze and turned to Jin to ask why he had stopped cleaning her. His words died on his lips as he saw Jin's expression. The wind master's eyes here half lidded and an emotionless mask lay on his features. But Touya felt an under tone of apprehension coming from his friend.

"Jin, what's wrong?" Jin just looked at Touya. He was quiet for a time clasping his hands in his lap looking at the lower half of the girl's torso.

"...I think the bastards may have...gone in..." Jin stopped at this utterance, unable to say anymore with out cracking his voice. His hands were trembling as if afraid of what they would have to do next. The infant had stopped crying, but was now whimpering and shivering slightly from the cold. Touya knew what Jin was saying and did not push him to say anything else about the infant's condition. Touya clenched his fists in anger...not one to really show his true feelings, he let them out here.

"Damn them to hell. Jin...do you want me to finish this?" He asked. Touya felt he could handle this responsibility though he half wished Jin would not let him. He got his wish.

"No," Jin said quickly. "If it is to be anyone to do this...part, than let it be me."

"Why?" Touya asked incredulously. He had always known Jin to be a rather modest person when it came to things like this...not that Touya wasn't but he hid feelings well and tended to take on the job regardless of his opinions.

"Because..." He started. "If she should ever find out what...happened to her, I never want her for one moment to think that...I was ashamed of her. She should never feel ashamed about something she could not control."

Touya's eyes widened at this. Though he was silently touched by Jin's tenderness toward the little girl he also began to worry about what Jin was thinking in his head. 'He speaks as if he is going to be with her in the future, to see her grow up...surely he must realize this is impossible. I am confident he would never want her to share our lives in the darkness...so how could he ever even be near her?' Touya's thoughts halted immediately when he noticed Jin standing and walking down the stream a bit with the girl wrapped in his warm cloak.

"Jin, where are you going?" Jin turned to give him this pleading look.

"Don't follow me...for her sake I want to finish this in private," he said before turning once again to sit behind some bushes thirty feet from where Touya was standing. The ice master at once understood and sat on the shore of the stream with his back to the pair. He once again contemplated what Jin could have meant when he spoke of being around to tell the girl what had happened to her. 'Jin must either be planning some sort of future escape or the possibility of taking time off...humph, like that has ever been given freely before. Surely he knows his request will be turned down the second he brings it up with Reisho. He despises not only the both of us but also half-breeds and mixed ones as well.' Touya thought. All he really knew was that whatever Jin had concocted, no matter how insane or dangerous, Touya would most definitely be following him till the end.

* * *

While Touya pondered Jin's mental state diligently thirty paces away, Jin had finally finished cleaning all of the young infant's body. Except for red skinned burns and some scrapes here and there, she was rather well considering what had been done to her. Jin had placed her down on the ground in the bundle and simply watched her for a few moments. His face showed hateful thoughts toward the demons who had done this. His expression was accentuated by his furrowed brows and deep frown; unlike what less knowledgeable Shinobi thought, Jin was not always the playful imp in a fight. He silently pictures the exact actions that would be taken if he ever found her violators. When the little girl cooed questioningly at Jin he cocked his eyebrows and softened his expression. 'I'll drop my hatred for those bastards for now...if only to be cheerful for her. She has had enough drear and grayness for one day,' he thought as he bent to the ground into her little face.

"Shh...we wouldn't be wantin' Touya to come over here and spoil our fun, eh?" he said mischievously, winking at the child. The infant cooed again in a questioning tone and so Jin answered, "Don't get me wrong; that guy is the greatest friend I've ever had, and there is no one I trust more with me life...but he can be a big old stick in the mud at times; won't even go flyin' with me when I ask real nice and all! I figured you and I could get better acquainted before he figures out just how long we've been sittin' here." The baby giggled at his smiling face and patted his nose with her tiny hand. He smiled even more an twitched his ears watching her face light up in amazement at them. He dipped his head even more so that she could grasp one in wonder. Jin lifted his face once she had finished and grinned.

"I think you and I will have a great deal of fun in the future, eh? Oh, but where are me manners? My name is Jin...pleased to meet you young lass," he said jokingly putting his hand out to the girl. She looked a little confused but then grinned and cooed happily patting his hand softly with her own. This made Jin's ears twitch even more. "By my ears, you would have to be the most adorable thing I have ever seen...hmm," Jin said before getting a perplexing look on his face. He held out his finger for the little girl, which she grasped quite strongly, to play with while he thought for a bit. 'She can't really do well without a proper name can she? But would it be alright if I named her myself?' Jin questioned in his mind. He then looked back with a smile to the girl and sat against the tree. He pulled his knees up nearly to his chest and placed the baby against them facing him.

"Lass, would you mind terribly if I were to pick your new name?" he asked half joking, but half seriously. She giggled at the funny motions his ears were making and grabbed his thumb to squeeze lightly. "I'll take that as a yes then!"

TBC


	3. By Any Other Name

By Any Other Name

Touya had been alone by the stream for over an hour, while Jin supposedly cleaned the infant girl, of the filth she had been living in, for the past three days. Touya's eyebrows were drawn together and he was quite close to forming a classic frustration vein on his forehead from sitting so long with out anything constructive to do. Initially he had worried that Jin might try to run away with the little girl, but his fears were put aside once he felt Jin's youki very close by. And as much as Touya realized the severity of what had happened to the village and to the infant, he also felt it necessary to get back to working on this mission before Reisho and the others decided to send for them.  
'That won't be pretty picture,' Touya thought to himself as he stared into the stream's flowing waters. 'When Reisho realizes how long we have been gone, that will be only one of the many things he will have "issues" with. I can just imagine his face when he hears that we not only failed in our mission to save the village, but that Jin may want to keep an infant around the encampment. What Reisho will do once he finds out that the girl is a half breed...' Touya shuddered just thinking of his leader's reactions to other similar situations.

During other instances when survivors had been found at various sites across the Makai, Reisho would usually take the easiest route and sell them as servants. Touya had always found it odd that the Shinobi clans saved these demons only to give them a life that was worse than when they first began. It seemed wrong...to lift one's spirits and thrash them upon proverbial rocks. How ironic; Jin and Touya's lives shared that quality with the victims of the Shinobi...raised hopes and shattered dreams. That was how best to break their will. Touya's face was scrunched up into a bitter countenance; he looked pained, like his very soul was being twisted.

A sudden burst of sound caught his ears and he lifted his head up in a jolt. Touya was hearing the loud laughter of a wind master. It came from where Jin and his charge were sitting by the tree. He got up and half stalked over with an annoyed look on his features. The ice demon was half prepared to yell at Jin for making him wait so long, while the wind master had been goofing off...as usual.

'Despite the severity of this situation, we are still on duty as trained, and professional members of the Shinobi clans, and...' his thoughts stopped there when he reached the pair. His feet stopped almost as quickly only to perform a classic anime fall down. There Touya was, preparing this big responsibility speech, which in Jin's case was often delivered on a daily basis, only to find Jin tickling the baby's belly with his nose making the weirdest noises Touya had ever heard.

As Touya got up from his fall, he sweat dropped hearing gibberish coming out of Jin's widely grinning mouth, as he entertained the giggling infant, who seemed to answer with the same nonsense.

"Tha i toilichte. Am bheil a' chraobh mòr? Tha sinn ag òl leann. Nach eil thu a' faireachdainn math? Tha iad a' smaoineachadh gu bheil mi a' seinn! He he he...you really like this, don't you Einin?" Jin laughed out loud again and nuzzled her stomach with glee, taking in her scent. Touya could only stand on the side of the pair and watch as Jin became putty in the infant's small hands. 'Jin better be careful or she'll walk all over him one day...one day? Great now he's got me thinking this girl is going to be around for a while!'

"Jin, I never knew you were one to babble with children in such gibberish. Imagine if the other Shinobi saw you now, or Urameshi? How can you even pick all of those nonsensical words out of your head so quickly?" Touya asked quite innocently. Jin instantly frowned with his mouth pursed and his eyes half lidded. A little frustration vein began popping on his forehead as he turned to the ice demon.

"It's not bloody gibberish ya' silly, little ice pixie!! You bloody well know it's Gaelic, I yell it at ye all the time. Gods, it's my native bloody language for St. Patty's sake! And if Einin likes it then it should be good enough for you!"

"You call that a language?" Touya scoffed, knowing very well what Gaelic was and that this little poke at Jin's expense would make his friend even more annoyed; sometimes Touya did things like this just to make his friend fume in a fake way...Jin never truly became enraged at moments like this; "all in good fun" was a phrase that came to Touya's mind, and these moments often helped clear any tensions lying in the air. As the ice master had predicted, for the moment it appeared the dreariness of that day had left them in a more lighthearted frame of mind...being able to argue as they always did put things in a better light. Jin's vein twitched at Touya's insincere jab and mumbled something under his breath.

"What did you say?!" Touya exclaimed his blue pupils getting smaller. At this juncture Touya was the one forgetting how to hold himself in check by remembering it was "all in good fun".

"I said 'Pog mo thon'...it means kiss my..." he put his hands over the girl's ears before yelling, "Ass!" Touya sweat dropped again and almost dreaded asking his next question, but it pecked at his mind and he moaned inwardly at bringing this upon himself.

"Fine, fine. Gaelic is a 'bloody' language, as you term it. But what is an 'Ay neen'?" he asked as he sat down, honestly perplexed at this word Jin kept repeating to the infant. In all of the times Jin had gone on a swearing torrent in Gaelic, Touya had never remembered hearing that particular phrase uttered...though there were many others with which he was well acquainted. Jin looked at him incredulously before responding, like he had expected Touya to know what it meant.

"What's the matter with your noggin today? It's her name o' course! Einin...it means 'little bird' in my language. Every time she makes that cooing noise it sounds like a little chirping birdie," he said as if it should have been apparent to Touya. His ice demonic friend opened his eyes even wider than before. This little verbal exchange had gone beyond amusing, and into dangerous territory, because now Jin was getting ideas in that brain of his, which often led to trouble with Reisho.

"OH NO! We are not doing that Jin! No way, no how!"

"Doin' what pray tell?"

"We are not her parents nor are we her foster parents, for that matter! What made you think you had the ordained right name her in the first place?!"

"What?! Don't be gettin your trousers in a twist; Einin needed a name...we couldn't just keep callin' her 'it' or 'the baby'. She deserved a proper name, and besides she gave me her blessin'," Jin said as if it made everything copasetic with all parties involved. Touya sweat dropped twice and rubbed his hand down his face before responding.

"SHE gave you her blessing?"

"What ya' got wax in your ears? Like I said SHE gave her blessing!"

Touya just stared at him for a moment...'Jin's lost his mind...he thinks infants can verbalize requests now. If Reisho doesn't kill him first he'll put Jin in a mental ward,' he finally thought to himself.

"She sounded real happy and all when I asked her permission, so I logically assumed that she meant 'yes'. Why are you fightin' this so much?" Jin asked before feeling a light bulb go off over his head.

"Oooohhhh, I get it now," Jin said, smirking like an elf. He quirked an eyebrow before continuing. "Well then Touya go right ahead; sorry for not thinkin' of it sooner; it was selfish of me." Touya stood back up with the most confused look upon his face. 'What on earth does the idiot have on his mind now? I'm once again afraid to even ask...damn my stupid curiosity.'

"What are you babbling about now?"

Jin frowned a bit at this and then said a-matter-of-factly, "Well...you didn't get to name her too. That IS why you're really upset, right? I named her with out even thinking of what you may want to call her. You saved Einin as well after all! So go ahead, give her a second name!" Touya looked like he was about to fall over, again. "Well go on, she likes hearing different languages and the like...you just know you want to name her. As much as you try to hide these things I see right through ya, me friend. You are just as fond of Einin as I am so don't try to deny it," Jin finished, grinning widely.

Touya's expression softened as he looked at his partner. He was right of course, at least about knowing what Touya really thought through his facades. But he did not yet feel the same bond that Jin did with Einin...she was still an orphaned stranger who was part of the job in Touya's mind.

Touya then glanced to Einin and met her intently curious gaze for the second time that day. Jin noticed this and, even though he does not seem to be the most perceptive of demons, he realized just what needed to be done. The wind master all of a sudden handed her over to Touya and started walking back to the burnt village. At first Touya panicked holding Einin out at arms length. Though he had helped save her life back at the village, Touya had always been a bit squeamish around babies and young children. He gritted his teeth unsure of what to do...he may have instructed Jin about how to hold her, but practicing what one preached was an entirely different matter.

Unbeknownst to Touya, Jin was trying to give them the same time together that he had been lucky enough to receive. He wanted Touya to care for Einin as much as he did; then maybe his ice demon friend would understand, in the near future, why Jin was going through with what he had recently planned while paying with Einin...

"Jin! Where are you going? What do I do if she starts crying?" Touya yelled at Jin's retreating form. Einin had already begun to whimper at the loss of body warmth and this made the ice master even more nervous. "Jin!"

"Don't worry your little blue noggin, Touya. I'm just gonna go get our notebooks and your cloak...we left them in the town remember? Besides I don't want Einin back in that place ever again. Don't worry I won't even be gone five minutes!" Jin nearly chuckled back, before disappearing into the brush. Touya sweat dropped, his eyes wide and looked at the infant still being held away from him in his hands. She looked back at him with the same look of: 'Ok...what now?'

* * *

"Name a child that isn't even mine to begin with...well I never...(mumble, grumble, mumble)," Touya had begun...well grumbling obviously, about ten minutes after Jin had left him alone with Einin. The demon had formed a patch of solid ice over the stream for him to sit upon, cross-legged and ponder what to do next. Einin lay safely tucked in Jin's warm cloak on Touya's lap, cooing and gurgling occasionally. 'Jin did not even think to go and find her food!' Touya thought incredulously. But he knew all of his grumbling was just a way to postpone the inevitable. Jin's stubborn nature would not let Touya leave this forest with out giving Einin a second name.

"You know that giving you a second name may just confuse you, right?" he asked Einin. She responded by cooing more and reaching up toward Touya. The ice demon looked perplexed and placed his arms on his knees while leaning into Einin's face with a questioning look. "What?" He got his answer immediately.

"OOOWWWWW! Let go of my hair!" Einin had grasped the shiny looking green bangs of Touya's forehead and given them a sharp tug, watching in amazement how they sparkled like snow. She giggled in delight at this and used her other small hand to grab some of his blue hair...earning herself another exclamation from the older demon.

"AACKKK! Stop!" Touya gritted his teeth not knowing how to dislodge himself from the little hands with out hurting her. 'I guess we should be grateful that the burns are not serious enough to impede her movement...she certainly seems functional enough!' Touya then sighed and stopped fighting Einin's hands when a realization came to mind. 'Jin is not planning to let Reisho take her...is he? Giving her a name was more personal to Jin that he let on...it implies a permanence to our relationship with her, and telling me to do the same is his way of making me just as attached! As good willed as his intentions may be, Jin is still trying to make me do something I may not be able to do....although he's not just being selfish, but is trying to help all three of us in fact. He probably sees Einin staying with us as the only decent thing to do. But...we can't though...demons in this line of work were never meant to have the lives they desire.'

Touya closed his eyes in a defeated way and felt Einin let go of his hair. He sat back up, and ruffled a hand through the mat of blue hair in frustration and said, with out opening his eyes, "We can not keep you young one...I am sorry but that is the state of things. When we get back to head quarters I will be forced to hand you over to Reisho. He will decide where you are to go, now that your home is gone. I wish, truly and honestly, that things could be different, for you and us alike. Jin will probably never forgive me for this...but a life with us means a life of shadows, to which the only end is death. There is no light there and I do not think you would choose to be a part of it." Touya simply continued to sit up straight, feeling the wind go through his shining green bangs. He opened his eyes slowly when he felt something clasp onto the finger of his left hand.

Touya let out a little surprised exhale of breath, then watched silently as Einin held his finger close to her mouth before nibbling on it affectionately. Touya realized she was so young that Einin did not even have any teeth yet. She looked him straight in the eye for the third time and he finally noticed how deeply blue they were, like small sapphire gems. Einin no longer looked questioningly at the ice demon, or confused. She seemed to know she was quite safe where she was, holding Touya's finger as if telling him not to ever leave her.

This endearing gesture on Einin's part made the corner of Touya's right eye water slightly before turning to crystal on his cheek. He gazed at how small and delicate her own fingers really were in comparison to his larger fingers, which were rough and worn from years of battle. 'You know her hands will become more torn and battered than even your own if you leave her to Reisho's whims...' an inner voice told him. He brushed her digits lightly with his free right hand. This made Einin giggle and reach out toward Touya's face. He leaned in obediently, initially dreading another firm yank to his scalp but instead he was welcomed by a soft touch. At this his eyes opened wider. She pressed her tiny hands onto his face almost cupping his pale cheeks. Touya, with out thinking, brought his hands under her small body and lifted her closer to his face so that she could reach. She started to rub her little hands up and down his features, and then chirped happily, "Nah!" At this Touya's heart finally melted and he dipped his face in to nuzzle her affectionately. He noticed that she no longer smelled of death or filth; her scent was new and refreshing, like flowers after a light rain.

Einin giggled at this attention and wrapped Touya's face in a gentle embrace. It appeared that she had chosen what she wanted. 'Hmm...it seems she is able to give her blessing...well I guess Jin has what he wanted...I will never be able to let myself leave her now,' he thought as he nudged his nose on hers. Touya then heard a slight cough and jerked his head up quick to see a smirking Jin leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. He had brought back Touya's cloak and the notebooks as promised, but looked as if he had long finished his task with a contented grin playing on his features. This grin was softer than the others he had shown recently and Touya knew his friend had been there for a time, watching the pair form their own bond.

"Not interrupting anythin' am I?" he asked coming over to the still sitting pair. He grinned knowingly as Touya blushed from being found out and tried to put on a less obvious expression.

"No...we were just finishing up," Touya said as he stood with Einin cradled in his arms. He walked over to Jin passing Einin to his taller friend before taking his own cloak and wrapping it around his shoulders.

"Well?" Jin said not waiting for Touya to finish dressing.

"What do you mean 'well'?" he asked, fiddling with a clasp on his cloak.

"Don't you play innocent with me Touya," Jin started his expression becoming more solemn. Touya finished to finally meet Jin's sincere gaze. "You know I don't mean her name at this moment."

'So Jin knows what I have been contemplating. Well, that should not be surprising. He's asking if I will take his side or Reisho's when the time comes,' Touya thought. He paused looking at both of the demons before him. He sighed heavily and then answered, "You are lucky she is so persuasive." At this Jin grinned from ear to ear and abruptly leapt onto Touya's torso, with Einin in the middle. Touya, not expecting this in the least, gave a stifled cry as he fell hard to the ground, while being strangled in Jin's enormous bear hug.

"ACK! Jin let go you big oaf! All I said is you are lucky...we still have to see how we are going to manage this back at head quarters...our time with her may not be as long as we hope so do not be expecting that much," he was able to gasp out. Jin then raised his head up, still hugging Touya, and grinned back at the ice demon.

"I know that may be true, but with someone like you on my side, old friend, I know we can pull anything off!" Touya just looked dumfounded before smiling to himself. 'Ach finally...the real patent pending Touya smile I have not seen in ages...Einin really must have pulled an OOC number on him to make him smile so sincerely!' Jin thought joyfully pleased with himself.

"Fine, fine, now get off me dummy before it starts to rain some more." Jin obliged still holding Einin in his arms. As Touya stood he said, "Now that that is settled we should start going back to the head quarters. Reisho is most likely having a fit by now!" As he started walking to the West, Jin called to him.

"Well??" Touya stopped for a second without turning. He needed no clarification as to what Jin was asking now.

"Hikari," he said. Jin looked perplexed, but thought the sound of it suited Einin just fine.

"What does that fancy word mean anyway?" Jin asked as he pulled up just behind Touya, readjusting Einin in the little sling of cloth he had made to lie over his chest snuggly. The ice demon waited a moment before turning his head to look Jin meaningfully in the eye.

"'That which takes away the darkness'," he said simply before facing west again and moving onward. Jin's face was blank for a moment until the true meaning hit him straight in the head like one of his own wind gusts. He smiled a real, honest smile as he looked at his companion walking ahead. 'So...I guess that settles it then. In our own ways, we have both agreed on the action we will soon take. Who knows? Perhaps this is our way out of the dark...may it be so.' Jin stopped his thoughts to look down at the precious bundle in his arms. He grinned and brought her face up to his, as he caught up with Touya on the pathway to the Shinobi encampment.

"Ha! I knew he would be unable to resist a pretty little angel like you! Uncle Touya's shriveled old heart just grew ten times bigger, yes it did...yes it did!" Jin babbled idiotically making Einin giggle and coo. Touya's face grimaced a little at being called "Uncle" and Jin could have sworn he heard the ice demon mumble under his breath, "Pog mo thon."

TBC


	4. Golden Morning After the Storm

Golden Morning After the Storm

The harsh, gray rains of yesterday morning had left the forests of the Eastern Makai a little worse for wear. Leaves, once brightly green atop the trees, now lay crisp and golden upon the forest floors. Some of the trees were stripped entirely of their foliage and stood bare to the world, while others had fallen at the whim of the gale storm winds. The chill in the air had not left this section of the demon world and one could still see his breath hanging lightly in the air, like steam rising from a cup of chai tea. And yet despite these, almost cleansing, changes to the surrounding lands, the morning on this day was a glorious one most Shinobi would not have had the pleasure of experiencing back at their dreary headquarters.

The sun was still low in the sky at this early hour and the dew of morning settled on the lower shrubs of plant life, almost cool to touch due to the chill in the air. However, the sun was at the height where the now golden leaves, the ones that had managed to cling to their trees, amplified the rays giving the forests a golden aura about them. The sunshine that was not impeded by the trees shone down to the ground in stray beams...this with the cool morning mist still upon the ground was quite a sight to see. The plants close to the ground had been collecting water fallen from the higher trees since yesterday, and droplets were accumulating on each separate leaf like water in a bowl. On a small patch of earth, which was covered with crisp, golden leaves lay a large bundle of black cloaks, enclosing one extremely worn Shinobi demon.

Touya lay on his right side curved into a fetal position. Two black cloaks of his clan were wrapped around his frame, though in hindsight, being an ice demon, he really would not be cold at all. The black cloth covered up to his chin leaving his head bare, yet cradled in the nook of a tree's roots like a natural pillow. A shrub stemmed off of the tree precariously above his face, with plenty of cool water sitting in its leaves. A gentle breeze sent one leaf's supply dripping upon Touya's eyes. Despite his ability to withstand cold, Touya was by nature and experience a very light sleeper...all the better to be alert when one was in the profession of the Shinobi.

Touya mumbled groggily and opened both of his eyes to see the golden light before him coming through the trees. However, he was far too sleepy to even appreciate the glorious sight before him. Touya started to wake up slowly, searching the ground, with his eyes, right in front of him for Jin and Einin. He was only slightly worried when he realized both were out of his sights. 'Jin must have covered me with his cloak before he set off this morning...why would he go without waking me first?' Touya asked himself before reaching a hand up to wipe his eyes from the water dripping down from the leaves of the shrub. Once his hand reached his face, Touya's elbow created a slight cave in his cloak from which protruded a small, white fuzzy...head? At this Touya started and pulled his cloak back all the way leaving himself bare to the morning air. He relaxed seeing that it was just Einin cradled in his right arm, sleeping peacefully while clutching Touya's shirt in her little hand. 'Why is she here? And where is Jin?' he wondered sleepily.

He needed only to turn his head to the left. There, Jin half sat and half stood, with his muscular arms across his gently rising chest, against a large tree. Touya looked at him perplexed, but his curiosity was not so great as to warrant leaving the comfort of two cloaks or leaving Einin cold. Touya decided not to wake Jin and layback down on the ground, rewrapping himself and the baby in the cloaks. As he lay there Touya tried to get his brain functioning properly. 'Why would he be there and I be here?' he asked. In a flash, like most memories do, the events of yesterday afternoon hit him smack in the forehead.

* * *

After the demons had left the ruined village in the late morning, they had traveled on route to the west for about five hours. Both of the Shinobi were tired from earlier activities and though Jin would never admit to it, he was the most exhausted of the three. Although Einin was not heavy by any means, only about fourteen pounds, it was probably very tiring for Jin to keep up the steady pace behind Touya for five straight hours with the extra weight. After all as far as Jin and Touya were concerned, the little girl was not some piece of baggage easily slung over the shoulder...Jin took his time climbing up hills and over rocks or rivers. The ice demon knew Jin would never have forgiven himself for letting Einin be harmed in any way, and he had given many a threatening stare to other demons they passed along the way. (Due to the haste required to get back to headquarters, Touya had insisted they take the most raveled and most direct route; which meant that they would be encountering more demons than they would have preferred...but none this far were foolish enough to disturb members of the Shinobi.)

Touya had managed to make Jin finally stop walking by reminding him that they needed to find some milk for Einin. Jin had quickly agreed to this before handing her over into Touya's capable arms, then he dashed off at top speed into the woods to the north. Touya had blinked many, many times before mentally scolding himself and looking down at Einin as if to say, 'What...have I done?' He sighed and sat down on a rock near the path. He looked at Einin who was crying slightly in a hungry way, at least according to Jin, who insisted by now that he could tell which cries were which...but of course to Touya it all sounded the same. He had called Jin a "real mother hen", which earned him a dirty look and another lesson in Gaelic cursing.

As Touya had just finished sitting down on the rock, a strong gust of wind blew through the area bringing with it Jin and...a cow?! Touya had ranted at Jin's mistake for almost twenty straight minutes as to why that was an overly dramatic method to getting milk for a baby. Jin had just shrugged and grinned a toothy grin...at least until the angry owner of said cow came charging down the path at them. Luckily Touya's persuasive skills had saved the day: the cow's owner received said cow, a little money for his trouble (all of which was Touya's, which he of course grumbled about), and the owner was so pleased with the cash sum that he allowed Jin to empty some milk into a satchel for Einin.

After that fiasco had been resolved Touya and Jin had begun trekking homeward once more, only to take a final rest in the small clearing covered with golden leaves. Both of the demons were too tired to make any sort of camp for the evening, thus it was agreed upon that sleep would be the only initiative taken.

Initially Jin had flatly refused to go to sleep without Einin in his arms sleeping just as soundly. However, while the wind demon had been arguing with Touya about this fact...he actually fell asleep standing up against the tree trunk. After a classic anime fall down and one sweat drop, Touya gently took Einin to sleep with him amongst the two cloaks.

* * *

Touya now snickered slightly at remembering watching Jin fall asleep mid-curse, only to let his face somber once more realizing the current situation. The morning of yesterday had been both emotionally and physically taxing on all parties involved, thus Touya felt a few more hours of refreshing sleep were not only deserved but required. He hugged Hikari closer to his chest before snuggling his face back into the roots of the tree to sleep once more.

At least...he would have gone back to sweet slumber if it had not been for two noisy travelers loitering down the path, right on the opposing side of Touya's tree. He hushed his breathing and tested the air for youki levels. After about two seconds his features calmed from the look of concentration, realizing that they were just low D-class demons anyway. However, this fact did not encourage Touya to confront them at this time. Lowly though they were, Touya was not one to begin a needless confrontation this early in the morning while holding a sleeping infant. He decided it was best to leave well enough alone and tried to fallback to sleep. Unfortunately the two idle travelers had stopped, to talk rather boisterously, in front of Touya's tree.

"Well, I don't know about those so called 'peace keepers' the Shinobi...I mean you heard what happened to that village in the east, right? Any one traveling on his way would have passed by it and seen what had happened there. If those fools can't even do their jobs, why not cut them off of the pay roll?" one sneered loudly. The other chuckled before responding.

"Yeah I mean it's not like protecting a bunch of worthless, stinking mixed breeds would do any good for us you know." Touya growled inwardly at this statement, but decided to keep himself calm, if only for Hikari's ensured safety.

"I heard there were even half breeds in the town!" he spat louder than before, as if the sound of those words tasted bitter in his mouth.

At this point Hikari began to stir. Touya looked down with his eyes wide and teeth gritted, silently begging, 'No no no no no...pleeeaaase don't wake up Hikari...not now, not when we can get some extra sleep!' She continued to mumble sleepily, obviously upset due to the loud menacing noises.

"Well you know if that's true...," the demon nearly yelled, putting extra emphasis on "that's". Hikari was about to wake, and not too happily either. Touya thanked the gods that Jin was a very heavy sleeper; who knows what he would have been doing to those lowly demons if he had heard what they were saying. "...then I would have done the exact same thing to those little hanyou bitches!!" At this point the demon's speech ended and Einin Hikari's began.

"WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Touya swore mentally and the demons looked around befuddled. Touya's face grimaced painfully at the sound of crying and sleep long lost, as he put his left hand over his eyes wearily. Suddenly, out of the blue, a small breeze from behind his back was felt and his eyes snapped back open, his hand hovering before his face. Touya felt a strong burst of youki behind him and all he could think was, 'Aw damnit...so much for moving across the Makai discreetly...'

The two lowly demons were still looking around, completely oblivious as to where the wailing infant's cries came from. When the first of the pair peered behind Touya's tree he was met by a huge gust of wind. The demon never had the chance to even scream before he was hurled backwards, across the pathway and into the adjacent forest's foliage. He flew painfully into a long line of sturdy trees before finally being stopped by a large boulder sitting off in the woods. Touya cringed inwardly at hearing the sickening crunch of his bones against the boulder's rock face and knew in an instant that the demon was dead.

The other D-class demon stood in shock seeing what had happened and turned around to face to chest (because Jin is quite tall in actuality) with a very angry wind master. Touya stood shakily, still groggy, holding Hikari close to his chest protectively. He was facing Jin's back, which was heaving up and down...as if he was laboring inwardly to control his power. After noticing this Touya was not sure if he even wanted to see Jin's face at this moment, so he decided to be patient and see what Jin would do next.

The lone, lowly demon began to tremble unsure of how to react to having Jin's face peer down at him. He had closed his eyes quickly as a reaction to seeing the wind master. The demon continued to shake, breathing sporadically in fear of what Jin would do next.

"Open...your...bloody...eyes!" Jin commanded in a low voice. It seemed the lowly demon did not understand Jin's tone, for he opened his eyes expecting to have some sort of mercy befall him...Touya knew better than that. Whenever Jin's demeanor held no humor or playfulness when nearing a confrontation, it would be the time for his opponent to reconsider the choice to face Jin. Jin's serious countenance could be more fearful than even Kurama's when brought into a rage.

"Were you one of those grotesque creatures complimentin' the deeds of child molesters?" Jin asked, struggling to keep himself in check. His eyebrows were drawn dangerously close together and his eyes were mere slits upon his usually handsome features. The lowly demon noticed how Jin licked his canine teeth underneath his lips and felt a shiver of dread run up his back.

"WELL?!" Jin yelled at this point making the demon fall to ground and bow at his feet.

"P..p..ple...ease sir...I meant no disrespect! I...had no...idea that two FINE Shinobi were in my presence," he begged with his hands reaching to clutch Jin's feet as a sign of submission. Jin's eyes widened at the unwanted contact and kicked the demon square in the face.

"Get up now ya' filthy bastard...I want ya' to see my face before you go to join your little pulverized friend o'er there!" Jin spat back at the demon while pulling him up to his height of five feet eleven inches. The demon hanged there about a foot off the ground cowering.

"Jin! That's enough now! Put him down...he's learned his lesson from his companion's demise! I am just as angry as you are, but it gives us no right to take vengeance in this way," Touya exclaimed as he jumped over to Jin. He still held Einin safe to his chest as he placed a hand on the wind master's shoulder. "You are better than needless violence...do not do something Reisho would compliment you for. No more unnecessary blood shed...I have seen enough."

"Are ya' deaf Touya?! Did you hear the bile spewing out of this bloke's pie hole?" Jin responded heatedly turning to look at Touya while still holding the frightened demon. "What would you have done if I were the one holding Einin and ya' had your hands free to do as ya' please?" Touya pondered this statement for a moment before looking up at his taller friend. His answer could be the determining factor in whether or not Jin stepped over that line of proper defense and down right cruelty.

"I would try to remember that my eyes are not the only one's witnessing my actions..." he said simply. Jin quirked an eyebrow at Touya, his own eyes searching the ice demon's face for his meaning. After finding nothing to read from Touya's expression his gaze finally settled on Einin, who had stopped crying, though tears still sat on her cheeks. She was now looking very intently at Jin's face. The wind master suddenly realized that she had been watching the whole altercation with the demons..., the first demon's death and hearing Jin yell ferociously about killing the last defenseless one. He raised his eyes back to Touya's. Jin looked down at his best friend pleadingly...Touya frowned, knowing what his friend was silently requesting of him.

He leaned up to Jin as much as he could before saying softly, "No Jin. I will not remove her from this environment to let you kill with out remorse...if you are going destroy this demon because of Hikari then she will be here to see it. Jin, if you want to...keep her, you need to realize that your actions now bear a heavier weight than before. When it comes to what she sees in her lifetime it will be up to us...I myself would prefer that she see the world in a better light than the one we grew up in..."

Jin's eyes widened in realization of what Touya was saying, and it took all of his composure to allow his chest to relax as he let his youki fall back down to its normal level of agitation, like water rolling off of a duck's back. But this did not keep him from turning back to the demon angrily before tossing him to the ground.

"Go on now ya' bloody scoundrel! Don't ever let me catch you doin' to another living creature what those demons did in that village, you hear me?!" Jin called after him as he ran off blindly into the woods whimpering pitifully. Jin continued to look ahead after the retreating form of the D-class demon. Touya sighed in relief, glad he would not have to explain one more dead demon to Reisho when they returned.

"I'm sorry...to the both of ya'," Jin said softly before turning to face his partner and Einin. "I didn't mean to let it go so far, but...I just felt this...I dunno..." Touya grinned slightly before finishing the wind master's sentence.

"You mean this unswerving compulsion to protect?" Jin looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, that's it exactly! How'd you figure that out?"

"Simple...I know you Jin sometimes better than you know yourself, while at the same time you know me best. And you don't have to apologize...your desire to defend Einin was admirable even if your methods were not as thought out as they could have been," Touya said in a reassuring tone, taking a step closer to the wind master. "Your heart has always been in the right place Jin the Wind Master...even though your head does not necessarily keep up with the pace." He finished with a slight grin, but Jin only drooped his once perky ears more.

"But Touya I could have caused real damage here not only just to some pitiful demon but also to Einin's remaining innocence...or what is left of it after those bastards had their way. I don't want the scarring of a little girl's heart to lie on my own spirit. And on top of it all, if Reisho even finds out about this one demon, it may be enough of an excuse for him to refuse our request for a leave o' absence...or worse, take...take her away from us," Jin admonished himself sadly. "I...I don't know exactly what I would do if he decides to sell her off like the others...its like we're trapped with him as our tormentor and sometimes it feels like I make a hopeless situation even more so with out thinkin'. Just like at the Dark Tournament...my weaknesses push the light even more out of reach." Jin's face was lined with worry and regret. It was not often that he allowed his sunny demeanor to falter so quickly...already Touya missed that optimism Jin was known for, and envied over. Even the ice master wished that he could have the same strong hope as his closest friend; but maybe that is what made them such good friends...they complimented each other and compensated for one another when needed. One's weaknesses could be another's strengths and vice versa...Touya considered this for a moment, then decided to give Jin some of what he had always given to Touya.

"Jin...close your eyes and open them only when I say so," Touya said repositioning Einin in the crook of his left arm. Jin's face vaulted into confusion, followed by a sweat drop at this request.

"What are ya' spoutin' there? This no time for a game o' hide an' seek! And you say that my head's not in the right place," Jin said, unsure of whether or not Touya had lost his sanity along with his chance at proper sleep. Touya sighed and said, "Just listen to me for once you big elf." At the use of Touya's little nickname for him, Jin shrugged and closed his eyes obediently. He felt his hand being taken by Touya's as he lead him forward by ten paces. Once Touya had stopped walking, he asked Jin to open his eyes and not to say anything. Jin was once again perplexed, but made nothing of it and opened his eyes at Touya's command. What he saw took him aback.

The forest had not changed one bit between this moment and Touya's awakening ten minutes earlier. The wind master had never really seen this place for what it was worth until Touya pointed it out to him. Jin looked in awe at the golden tones of the woods, the sparkle of the morning dew, and the light shining through the trees. It all held some kind of poetic justice in Jin's mind, that yesterday should have been so dark, but now with Einin and Touya both by his side...the world was now alight and glistening anew.

"When ever you feel that hopelessness, my friend, remember places like this...it is what we Shinobi fought for and lost during the Dark Tournament, but now we have another opportunity to rectify our past errors. We will do things differently this time around and triumph in the end. This is the life we want for ourselves and for Hikari...keep that in mind and may it keep you strong, when you think all hope has left us behind." Touya finished and turned to stand in front of his comrade. Jin looked down at him, genuinely surprised at Touya's eloquence, and smiled a toothy grin. 'He truly is me best friend that one is,' he thought happily before reaching out a hand to ruffle Touya's hair.

"Ya' always know how to bring me spirits up after bein' so low, eh?"

"Simply returning the favor," Touya replied with a knowing smile.

"Aawwwww...our little ice pixie is turning out to be quite a poet then, eh? Next I wanna hear one about dandy lions and licorice sticks! Ha ha ha ha..." Jin continued to laugh as his ears resumed their jovial twitching. Touya looked at Jin with his eyes half lidded and one quirked eyebrow. 'I try so hard to get a point across and he never lets on that it's sunk in...'

"Jin sometimes I wonder why I bother with you as much as...hey!" Touya started before Jin grabbed him into a great hug as he had the day before. Touya's feet hanged down to Jin's knees, seeing as the ice demon is about a foot shorter than his redheaded counterpart, and Einin sat snuggled in between the two demons cooing contentedly. Jin looked at Touya straight in the eye with a huge grin gracing his features.

"You bother with me because ya' love me ya' silly pixie!" Touya stiffened as his face was thrown into a slight blush. Jin had always been one to make his feelings known, at least to Touya. It was not often that Touya felt entirely at ease responding though. It was not that he did not feel the same way for his good friend, he just did not vocalize it...Jin never seemed to ask though, he appeared quite aware that Touya felt that same bond and what it meant to have such a close companion. It was one of the things Reisho despised the most about the pair.

"Jin as much as I know you love to crush things in your overgrown biceps...ugh...I think we should start on the move again!" Touya was able to breath out as Jin relaxed his embrace a bit.

"What? Would Uncle Touya be embarrassed if I carried him all the way back to Reisho, like this?" Touya had a little frustration vein popping at being called "Uncle" again. He growled a little inwardly and Jin gave a chuckled sigh before letting him down to the ground.

"A'right then me friend, let's be off," Jin said taking both of their cloaks from the ground. "Wouldn't want to keep dear master Reisho waitin' now would we?" he asked sarcastically, as he reached out his arms expecting to carry Einin. When Touya hesitated in handing her over Jin raised his brow. "What? I carried her all of yesterday with no complaint from either of ya'."

"As much as you attempt to hide these things from me, Jin, you can not say you weren't tired carrying an extra fourteen pounds on your chest...let me take her for today and we will alternate again tomorrow, alright?" Touya proposed.

"Well...alright then. But I get her tonight, ok?" Touya smiled at Jin's attention to the young girl and decided he would concede this time.

"Great! Now that's settled I think the nearest town is close by...not ten miles from here. If we keep a steady pace we should reach it by just after lunch time, then it's only another day and a half's trip from there back to headquarters," Jin said as they started down the path. As they walked Touya held Einin close, whispering silent hopes in his mind that Jin's heart would remain unbroken once they had reached their homeland...but he reminded himself of his own words not long ago uttered, about a golden forest and the hope it could bring to one's spirit. Touya smiled to himself and then down to Einin before gently rubbing his nose on top of her fuzzy head. 'Have faith Touya for with these people at your side, the light will surely come,' he though to himself as the trio continued on their journey.

TBC (Sorry about how I spell the villain's name Reisho but I figured that changing it now would be of no use...and to think I would make such an error after two years of college Japanese! Ja mata for now!)


	5. Waning Moonlight

Waning Moonlight

After a warm day, the night had finally come to cool the western portion of the Makai lands. It was not as cold as the morning had been, with its dampness or foggy breath, and it lacked the chilled breeze in the air, but was cool nonetheless. The darkened night's sky looked like the length of a new kimono that had been dipped in indigo dye, held up to the heavens by many crystalline stars as if they were presenting it to the gods as a display of their own awesome creation.

Each sparkling orb seemed alight with its own life and yet, at the same time, remained part of a greater whole as well. As different as the Makai was from the Ningenkai with regards to their lands, foliage, and climates, both shared one common aspect: the arrangement of the celestial beings. The shapes, long believed to hold some mythical significance for the human race, also had their own special meanings to the inhabitants of the demon realm. Behind each set of stars lay stories to be told.

The kimono sky was dotted with only a few scattered patches of fluffy clouds, enhancing the beauty of the night rather than marring it; for the moon shone and its glow lit the mists of the clouds from behind, making them appear more ethereal than they already were. It was under this enchanting sky that Jin lay back on the dry, but soft grass with his right hand behind his head, chattering away at Einin as if she understood exactly what he was saying.

She lay on her back upon the wind master's sternum while his other hand held her much smaller one. He was having a grand time telling her a story about one of the most important constellations amidst the night sky...well, it seemed important in Jin's mind.

"...Now ya' see that star o'er there is part o' one o' his feet, and the three all lined up look like his belt, those other two are his impressively broad shoulders...umm...Ah! And that star, a bit above the shoulders, is the horn that lies atop his noble brow...hmmm, now where was I in the story? Ah yes, anyway the extremely handsome, brave, and...err, strong master of all the winds was named...uhh, Gin! Yeah that's it! Anyway, Gin was the one and only, grand master of the wind across the whole demon realm...did I mention he was handsome to boot?! And in this particular instance he was facing a mighty warrior, not one o' those buggery demons you met this mornin' but a true fighter worthy of Gin's awesome skill and honor! The warrior's name was...uhhh..." Touya sighed almost painfully after nearly an hour of Jin's story telling.

Touya sat atop a small log to the side of a grassy knoll, which was adjacent to a small pond far into the western Makai. He had dragged the natural seat onto the grassy shore next to a small dirt patch, which he could only identify as a previously made fire pit. His legs were crossed as he leaned forward with a stick, stoking the fire to make it spark slightly and light some more of the freshly laid wood. The fire pit itself was small and the fire was not one fit for cooking, but Touya felt the only need they had for a fire in the first place was to give some light to their temporary campsite for the evening. His partner lay only six feet from where Touya sat, which was close to the edge of the water. At this point, in Jin's enthralling narrative, Touya glanced over slightly before speaking up.

"Was his name Yusuke?" he asked in a bored tone, with an underlying a hint of sarcasm. Jin frowned before responding.

"No, ya' silly pixie! 'is name was not YUSUKE.........it was Yasaku!" Jin said matter-of-factly. Touya sweat dropped as his eyes closed and his mouth grimaced, holding in another sigh.

"Jin if you are not going to even tell her the real story behind that constellation, which I believe the humans call 'Orion', then the least you could do is..."

"Aww, Touya don't be such a stick in the mud! You're supposed to tell kids stories, especially when they're little ones...it gets their imaginations working and all that. If you don't, then they end up having no personalities, social skills or creativity...hmmm, sounds like Reisho!" Jin finished before laughing at his own joke. He then picked up Einin into the air as he sat up to cross his legs Indian style. Jin turned slightly to the ice demon just enough so that Touya could see the wind master's profile being illuminated by the fire. Touya watched on, still stoking the fire slightly, as Jin turned Einin around in his hands to look into the red-head's grinning face.

"And we wouldn't want a thing like that to happen now would we, angel? No we wouldn't, no we wouldn't! Don't need another cranky pants like Reisho do we, darlin'?" Jin asked Einin goofily, bringing his face closer to hers every time he asked a question. She would giggle in delight and pat his face with her hands as she so often did. Touya smiled slightly at the wind master's antics, wishing he could join in...but another thought had come into his mind, causing his handsome face to fall into a frown. He turned back to the fire, stoking it harder this time, still aware of Jin talking more nonsense to Hikari only six paces away.

The day's trek had not been a hard one, nor nearly as time-consuming as Jin had originally anticipated...'What a surprise,' Touya thought sarcastically, though not in a mean way...Jin simply had no knack for judging time. By morning, if they left early enough, before the sun even rose, they would get to headquarters by daybreak. This fact held no comfort for Touya in the least, but it had to be done for that was the end of the time limit Reisho had given the pair to complete their mission.

"I..." Touya started softly. This caused Jin to cease his joyful playtime with Einin, and turn to Touya with a receptive look on his face. Jin looked at his comrade expectedly, while pulling Einin into a gentle embrace. Touya half chuckled, in a sad way, before continuing. "I...half wish that you had been right." Jin quirked an eyebrow to show his confusion. "...about headquarters being farther away than they really were."

"Ah, you mean about seeing Reisho again so soon?" Jin asked figuring that was what Touya was referring to. As much as Jin did not like Reisho, for many reasons, Touya had always seemed to hold a personal discomfort around the demon leader of their Shinobi clan.

"No...I mean now that we are going to arrive so early, leaving before the sun rises and coming to our destination at dawn...this morning's beauty will have been the last light we witness for...well, I don't know how long. There will be no more sunrises for an indeterminate amount of time and it all depends on how tomorrow goes. Once we arrive back at headquarters, you know what awaits us there," Touya finished on a gloomy note, no doubt picturing in his mind scenes of their home that Jin was also familiar with.

The Shinobi clan lived and breathed in the darkness; their encampments enshrouded by canopies of black clouds and the landscape dead from the lack of life giving light. Most of the clan stayed in systems of caves to ensure that no light touched the skin of a Shinobi who was not on patrol outside the clan boundaries. The chill of that place was not the cheerful welcoming of the autumn season from this morning...but one of no future spring. Though Touya could not feel the cold as the others, he could still sense it's meaning.

Jin pondered what Touya had said before looking back at Einin. Touya's eyes were scrunched up and his brows furrowed in some deep-seated imagery from the past.

"We still have her," Jin offered hopefully holding Einin up for Touya to see. The ice demon glanced over at the infant and the grinning demon below her. Though the site was endearing to the ice demon's heart, it did not lift his spirits as Jin had hoped. 'Well I will just hafta' try somethin' else now won't I?' Jin thought to himself still eying his friend. Jin then started to flop over on to his stomach, almost facing his friend, while placing Einin on the ground before him in the same lying down position.

"Touya come look here...I wanna show ya' something'!" Jin exclaimed happily. Touya turned himself fully to the wind master at this point, putting his stoking stick into the fire as fuel. "Ready?" Touya nodded slowly, wondering what his insane partner had on his mind. 'Why am I always afraid to ask what he is going to do next?' he asked himself. 'Because you know he going to do something insane...with Jin that's inevitable,' he responded to himself. 'Oh yeah.'

"Okay then, now watch this," Jin instructed before turning to Einin. He raised his chest onto his elbows, as he placed one hand over Einin's eyes gently. The little girl began to make sounds of confusion; Jin grinned at the adorable site almost unable to hold in the anticipation. "Okay darlin', where's Jin?!"

Touya would have fallen over in stupefaction, if he had not wanted to see what Einin would do. "Where's Jin?!...Here I am!" Jin said playfully as he removed his hand from Einin's face. She looked at him and smiled before saying, "Ah!", which Jin interpreted as: "Oh there you are!"

Jin smiled even wider at this and Touya could not help but give a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. 'Well good to start, but I wanna make him really smile...hmm, what to do next?' Jin thought, hoping to make Touya give at least some sort of chuckle before the night was over. Einin seemed to help Jin in that department when she gave a great big, and equally adorable, sneeze right in Jin's face.

Jin looked horrified, and a little frustration mark showed up on his forehead due to being covered in numerous unidentified and oddly colored fluids. Jin looked over at Touya with this expression and Touya began to tremble slightly. At once, the wind demon was worried. 'Why the heck is he shaking? I didn'a think I did all that bad.' Jin got his answer as Touya's face erupted into laughter...well, it was certainly laughter when compared to Touya's default sober demeanor.

"Ah ha ha ha...!" Touya put a hand over his mouth and pointed at Jin, nearly tearing up in the eyes it was so funny to him. "Oh gods Jin...ha ha ha...I think my...my sides are going to split...he he he," the laugh had worked its way down to a chuckle but Touya's smile was still there as he watched the wind demon clean off his face with part of his cloak. Jin grimaced a little at being sticky, but once he caught a glance at Touya's face he felt the discomfort was worth it...and Einin seemed thoroughly pleased with herself, cooing happily on her stomach.

"Oi...the things it takes to make you smile me friend!" Jin said jokingly as he got up. "Here, hold her for a sec while I wash me face off...Hey, I don't remember feeding her stuff that looked like this?!" He walked over to the pond gathering some water to his face as he crouched down low. Touya, meanwhile, got down on the ground to sit leaning against his log. He reached out to the squirming Hikari and pulled her to sit in his lap. His legs lay open, as Hikari sat within the V shape they created. Touya raised his eyebrows as she managed to sit up without much of his help at all, leaning against his stomach softly.

"Hmm, you noticed that too eh?" Jin asked as he got back to the pair by the fireside. Touya never ceased to be amazed by how perceptive of the ice demon's thoughts Jin could be when he wanted to. "She's gotten better at holdin' her head up and sittin' with out me havin' to hold her hands at all! I dare say she will be able to crawl soon enough...won't that be a site?!" Jin said excitedly, gently clasping one of her little hands in his own large ones. Jin sat cross-legged in front of Touya and in between his spread legs. They formed a nice little circle around Einin.

"You're gonna be a big, strong girl some day, aren't ya' darlin'? I don't know what it is about her Touya, but I just find her so fascinatin' and all! I mean she used to seem so weak after the raid, but now she's getting' to movin' around a lot more. Just look at her hair and all that! It's hard to believe that a little girl this adorable could even exist; like she's from one of those tales up in the starry sky." Touya smiled as his hands played with her soft hair from behind.

"Hmm, I wonder what kind of a mixed demon she is?" he asked honestly. Jin perked his ears up and looked down at the girl perplexed as well.

"Oi, I haven't the foggiest of clues as to that...we'll just hafta' wait until we get back to headquarters...as useless as he usually is, Reisho still has some kind o' knack for figurin' out demons." Touya sighed inwardly as the dread of tomorrow began to creep up again.

"Jin...we should be ready for whatever Reisho decides to throw at us," Touya began quite frankly, but still brushing his fingertips over Einin's hair and she played with Jin's fingers joyfully. Jin looked up into Touya's somber face. "I know that we can not very well prepare a possibly vital battle plan now, but being prepared mentally is our only option. No matter how professional Reisho must be under Shinobi law...he will certainly make things difficult for us regardless." Jin thought on these words for a moment or two before responding. His brow quirked up a bit as he raised his head more to Touya's gaze.

"Touya...why do ya' think Reisho has got it so bad against us? I mean he certainly is no ball of bloody sunshine to the others either but he seems to have a harder spot in his soul for the both of us."

"Well, isn't it obvious Jin? I mean, you have been working under him for longer than I have," Touya said meeting Jin's gaze. The wind master just looked even more confused and scratched his head absent-mindedly. Touya chuckled slightly before explaining.

"As far as I can see it...we both burned him badly enough...in our own unique ways."

"What are ya' meanin'?"

"Jin for the whole time you have been here in the Shinobi clan, have you ever shown Reisho one ounce of respect or recognition as the leader? I mean even at the Dark Tournament, you took on the leader of Urameshi's team instead of allowing Reisho to have that honor...he who technically was our chosen match leader in the first place," Touya began, not in any criticizing way but simply telling the gods truth about what had happened in the past.

"I guess you're right...then again, in my humble defense, that bloody bugger never did a thing to earn my respect now did he?" Jin said. "Beat you up often enough...and that is more truthful than anything," he practically spat out. Touya nodded slightly to demonstrate that he at least shared some of Jin's feelings towards those events.

Whether at the Dark Tournament or back at headquarters, Jin was usually aware of Reisho's offenses against Touya. Reisho tended to be the hardest on Touya...pushing him the most in training, denying him the most when it came to food and clothes, and lashing out at Touya the most when the earth master was in the mood for a beating. Jin was often very verbal about his feelings toward Reisho's misconduct, which gave Touya the added responsibility of keeping Jin's temper in check.

"No he did nothing to earn your respect as far as I know, but in the Shinobi's situation we are expected to...well, follow blindly; which I am somewhat glad to say is not one of your stronger traits," Touya responded. "I think one of the things that drives him up the wall the most is that fact that he has no real control over you Jin." Jin's eyes widened at this a little.

"You are a much stronger demon within your element than he is...that was demonstrated at the Dark Tournament. Also you disobey him blatantly in front of the other Shinobi...in a way this rubs his own short comings in his face and makes him appear to be a weak leader. Reisho absolutely hates the fact that he can't give you orders with assurances that they will be carried out, which is partly why he allowed us to be partners in the first place...he knew that I have an, at times, unfortunate tendency to follow with out question, which means you would help me do the work as my partner; and he also knew you would follow along with me just because it was me you were following.

"Yet, Reisho still feels the need to keep you around due to how strong your youki is. In a way it is ironic how he despises the strength that mocks him, yet also depends upon it to keep the Shinobi alive." Jin was taken aback by how insightful Touya truly was; sometimes the wind master forgot that most often it was the quiet one's who had the most meaningful things to say. But Jin felt something nagging at his mind.

"There's somethin' else isn't there? Somethin' you won't say...I can feel it in me bones me friend," Jin said seriously, peering into Touya's pupil-less eyes. Touya sighed a little before continuing.

"The fact of the matter is Jin...you are not like the other Shinobi. Even I fit in more when it comes to this issue," Touya said looking away slightly. Jin cocked his head to side confused at what Touya was trying to get across. "Your demeanor is not one of a conquered Shinobi, like myself or Bakken...it is not one of a being who has no hope of leaving the clan...it is not one of a crushed spirit. You have this...aura about you...this...I don't know if I can describe it..." Touya stopped to look at Jin, who was by all accounts still perplexed. Touya worked his mind to find the right words.

"You appear happy...as if you have some sort of protective barrier that sits between you and the darkness of the Shinobi world. While the others openly display their bitterness at being kept from the light, you bounce and fly around as if nothing keeps you tied to the earth beneath you...nothing ties you to that place and its darkness. Your spirit is still alive and free to abandon the clan if it pleases, and some of the others...are jealous of this fact. They see in you someone who does not submit to the dark but still reaps the benefits of being a Shinobi, what little benefit there still is. You have been saved from the dark life merely by your sunny disposition, while the other Shinobi feel the weight of their metaphorical chains. It hurts them, even Reisho, to be around someone appearing to be unaffected by the darkness...like a harsh slap in the face." Jin thought hard about this...his face serious and almost sad. He looked back up at Touya as if he had done something wrong.

"Does it...does it hurt you at all, Touya? Me tryin' to look on the greener side o' the grass?" he asked almost afraid of the answer. Touya's face vaulted.

"No. Nothing like that at all my friend...I would have said something to you if that were true. The other Shinobi may look at you and think they see a demon who is impervious to the pain and dreariness of our lives...but I know you better than that, and I know that without feeling some pain you would not have this...almost natural disposition to being happy. There is a human saying: 'A heart that is impervious to pain, is also impervious to joy.' I believe that because you can still feel the darkness and recognize it, you can also feel more acutely the joy in the world around you. Jin, you manage in some way to make your own happiness from the small things in your life. You jump for joy at the sight of a new day or at a strong breeze blowing through your hair. I understand it is not that you don't feel the sorrow of the Shinobi life...you just find joy in simpler things that most others would overlook, and that makes up for it...I guess." As Touya finished his speech Jin could not find words. His mouth hanged open and his eyes were wide in awe of this demon before him. 'How does he get me so well?!' he asked himself, amazed once again at how perceptive Touya was.

"Ya' hit it right on the head there, Touya...it's good to know that someone's figured me out, ya' know?" he said honestly and thankfully. Touya smiled at his friend genuinely.

"Hn, no problem you big elf," he responded teasingly. Jin wiggled his ears at this and ruffled Touya's hair with out even eliciting a grimace from the ice demon's countenance...he would allow it this once.

Then Jin's face became confused again.

"Wait...didn't you say we both burned 'im...Reisho I mean? Well, I guess it's obvious what I've been doin' to him, though I think he deserves it, but what did you do to ruffle his feathers so much?"

"What do you mean?" Touya asked his face becoming somber again.

"Well remember at the Dark Tournament, how the bugger punched ya' into the wall and all the other times he's battered ya' behind the ears? I didn't think you did anything so bad as to make him..." Jin stopped at the look on Touya's face. It was tight almost to the point where one could not tell if he was a living, breathing being or a forlorn ice sculpture in the woods. 'He's trying to push somethin' down...somethin' he wants to forget,' Jin thought to himself observing this change in his friend's demeanor.

"Touya?" The ice demon did not answer at first and he had stopped brushing through Einin's hair. Truth be told, Einin had fallen asleep during their conversation and now lay peacefully against Touya's abdomen. Jin did not like the look on his friend's face, but he felt he had to know the cause of it in case it was useful for tomorrow's encounter.

"Touya? What did ya' do to make Reisho so angry with ya'? It couldn't have been worse than all the stuff I put him through," Jin said prompting his comrade to speak openly. Touya sighed and brought his head back up to Jin's eyes, which were shining expectantly.

"When I first arrived to the Shinobi clan we were both young, you and I...though you of course were only a bit older, but I guess that's irrelevant." Jin knew that when Touya was hesitant about speaking his mind he tended to beat around the bush and go onto unrelated topics. "Reisho, as a clan leader, was competent enough and I saw no reason to disobey his orders...I acted as respectful and loyal to Reisho as I was taught to by my former master. But after a month or two of training with the other Shinobi, Reisho made a request of me that I had to refuse...my refusal is why he lashes out more at me than the others," Touya said, leaving the statement hanging in the air like a leaf about to fall. Jin looked at him in a pressing way to go on.

"Well, what did he ask of ya'?"

"...Reisho came up to me after we'd had a briefing on one of the other missions. You were able to go off on that mission and work as a Shinobi since you had seniority over me; so I had to stay behind and train more. I guess I resented the others mildly...I was young and did not understand the patience of waiting till I was ready to fight. I really just wanted a chance to join with the others and maintain my honor.

"Reisho seemed aware of this, and came to speak with me after the briefing was over with and everyone had left. He said that he would allow me to go on the next mission with the others if I gave him something in return. At first I was thrilled at the prospect...but luckily for me I had the sound mind to ask what the price was." Jin still watched Touya's face as he spoke. His friend seemed hesitant to proceed and at this point Jin was lost...what could have Touya done that was so bad? "He requested that...I be his bed mate."

At this Touya stopped to observe Jin's reaction. He expected to see Jin disgusted with the idea, but instead found his jaw set tight and his eyes intent on Touya's eyes. Touya felt it was best to continue, otherwise he was afraid Jin's jaw would snap from the tension.

"When he asked this I was taken aback. I then confessed...I guess out of fear, that I would not ask anything more of him and would resume my training until I was deemed prepared enough to go on my own. I thought he would understand...but instead he seemed silently enraged. I could feel the earth beneath me quivering and I thought for a moment that he would strike me. At that age I was...foolish to say the least. I guess I then agreed just to placate him and keep him from going over the edge with his temper." Jin stiffened at this and his teeth ground together harshly. Touya stopped suddenly and looked at Jin's expression.

"Jin...are you..."

"Did he touch you?" Jin blurted out. Touya looked at him wide eyed, before feeling both of Jin's hands reach across the small circle and set themselves on his shoulders. Touya then realized that this admission was hurting the wind master worse than it was hurting even himself.

"Did...he touch you, Touya?" Jin was almost afraid of the answer. The ice demon felt it best to respond promptly.

"Well, I went with him initially...but as I walked beside him to his chambers, I began to regain my senses. I stopped suddenly in the passageway and waited until he noticed...which did not take long. His eyes burned into my own like the sun; he seemed so angry. I restated my refusal to be with him in that manner. That's when he lost it, screaming that I had rejected his generosity," Touya ceased his narrative to regain his track of thinking. "I suppose that your question was asking about whether he touched me...inappropriately. He did not." Jin sighed softly in relief at this.

"Good then I don't hafta' kill him just yet," he said with angry brows and a frown still set on his face. Touya continued, not sure if Jin would still feel relieved when he was done speaking.

"Simply put, he began thrashing me mercilessly...by this time I had not developed any distinction between respecting my leader and being a pawn in his clutches. I lay there and did nothing to defend myself," Touya said. Jin's face jumped at this.

"What?! How could ya' do nothin' like that?!"

"I was new to the clan Jin, and Reisho was my leader; I was brought up only to respect and obey...even if it meant doing some things I would not be proud of later." Jin grumbled at this, disliking Touya's former master more and more for his, in Jin's mind, foolish teachings on following a leader.

"Anyway, Reisho had about one full minute of physically berating me and yelling at the top of his lungs...even though I was almost out of it, I feel him trying to drag me to his room after the beating had ceased. Luckily, and surprisingly, for me, Gama came into the passageway from around the bend in the cave. Reisho had turned around toward Gama, and stopped moving immediately and then tried to act as if he were taking me to the infirmary for treatment of my recent wounds. Like a knee jerk reflex, he easily concocted a story about me being atop one of the caves training only to fall after a careless slip...and Gama, even though he probably knew better than to believe such a tale, at least pretended to believe Reisho, and I was taken to the infirmary by the both of them. Later on, by the time Reisho had worked up the temper to face me again, you had arrived and were in the room next to my cot, joking with me about how clumsy I must have been to have fallen," Touya finished. Jin stared for a moment at his own hands.

"Jin, what's wrong?"

"I can't believe I was so...so stupid to be fooled by one of Reisho's lies. I believed him too! About you fallin' and him findin' ya' like that on the ground. And I was too damn belligerently optimistic to notice that your injuries in no shape or form coincided with the story...oh boy, if I had paid more attention Reisho would have gotten a sound thrashing from my tornado fists," Jin seethed while crossing his arms.

"Which is exactly why I did not tell you," Touya responded looking at his comrade with the most honest of expressions. Jin cross his eyes and cocked his head to the side, as he usually did when a bit of information went right over his head. "If I had said anything to you about what had occurred, what would you have done do you think? At the least you would most certainly have gone after Reisho. At the most you could have brought down serious consequences upon yourself. What good would that have done? It only would have gotten you severely punished...I did not want my one and only friend being tossed out of my life simply because I made the mistake of not saying 'No' the first time Reisho asked me." Jin's ears perked up at this.

"I...was your only friend?" he asked quite innocently. Touya grinned and then continued to brush through Hikari's fine hair.

"Hn, of course. I certainly did not make close friends before the Shinobi...that part of my life was non-stop training in the woods with just my master. You were the only person who even showed me an ounce of kindness when I first joined the clan, and I certainly held no interest in befriending Reisho, Bakken, or any of the others. They just...did not seem to understand me as you do," he explained, his face looking reminiscent of days past with his Shinobi comrade.

"They treated me like my heart was as cold as my skin. I know I am not the warmest of demons when it comes to feelings...but I do still feel; I am still capable of showing my emotions. They had misconceptions of who I was...where as you had none. You treated me like I had blood flowing through my veins...like I deserved a kind word or two, and so I guess I was naturally drawn to you...even if you were a little more energetic than what I was used to.

"That's what makes Reisho hates us so much...when I rejected him, he saw I was quite eager to be your partner. I guess it was yet another slap in the face when the ice demon Reisho coveted became close friends with the wind master he could not control...Thank you for being that friend Jin; I dare say knowing you has made me a better demon than I would have been, had I never met you," Touya stopped to find himself smiling genuinely before turning to look once more at Jin. The wind master appeared deep in thought.

"Jin..." The demon in question raised his eyes to Touya's inquisitive gaze. "Out of curiosity, just why did you stay with the Shinobi if you were always strong enough to leave them for good? Why not go out and train by yourself with out any confining regulations?" Jin did not even have to think about his answer.

"Because I knew that **you** would still be with them, even if I ski doodled," Jin answered softly. Touya's face vaulted into a surprised expression. 'He stayed for me?' "To tell ya' the truth, before ya' came along I'd been plannin' on leavin' once the winter's snow fell. I had no one there who cared about me or for whom I cared a lick about. The only reason to stay would be some of the money we occasionally received and the chance to fight...but as you know I have no problems finding myself a bit o' trouble, whether with the Shinobi or not.

"I had figured it would be easy enough for me to fly up into the sky and over the clouds, beyond the Shinobi clan's grasp. But, low and behold, jus' before the snow came...you arrived. It was like a fresh wind had come down from the North. So I decided to stick around for a little while more to find out what made ya' tick and all that. It seemed to me that ya' had somethin' worth sayin' about yourself...and I was right. That's what made me stay...you were there, you were someone I wanted to know and be partners with. I knew from the start we would make a great pair you and I. I also knew that because of your training, ya' wouldn't leave unless ya' felt it really necessary...so I stayed too; figured you were a good example to follow by. Believe me, me friend...it was well worth the wait and I am better because of it!" Touya's face flushed slightly at this. It had been a while...no, ages since they had spoken this honestly about themselves. With the recent events soon to hit some sort of climax, this conversation made sense. Neither knew what would occur at headquarters tomorrow and it was like laying everything bare on the table before heading into unknown territory.

Jin started to snicker.

"What?" Touya asked. Jin softened his little laughter before answering.

"Ya' got that red look about your face...he he he...always happens when we talk like this," Jin said grinning with a tooth poking out the corner of his mouth.

"Uh, sorry?" Touya suggested...he really had no idea what made his blush so funny.

"Nah, nah. Nothin' to be sorry for! I think it's endearin' and its nice to see that look after so many years of bein' too preoccupied to have a real conversation, ya' know?" Touya did know, and was pleased to hear that Jin held these talks in as high a regard as the ice demon did. "Besides, ya' know it's hard for me to criticize ya' when I care about ya' so much!" This made Touya blush more, which in turn led to and extended performance of Jin's snickering. Touya could not help but grin a little at the situation.

"Hn, sometimes I wonder how a frigid ice pixie like myself could ever get along so well with an overgrown belligerent elf like yourself," Touya said smiling with his eyes closed.

"Jus' lucky stars on both our sides I guess! But let's make that 'an incredibly handsome and well built elf' next time alright?" Jin said shaking a finger jokingly at his friend. Touya chuckled before standing, while moving Hikari into a more comfortable position in his arms. He stretched out one hand to freeze over the already dwindling embers of the fire. Jin decided to follow his example, silently agreeing that it was time for slumber, and used his abilities to blow upon the fire until all of the light from it was extinguished.

The only remaining shine across the land came from the full moon hanging at the highest point in the sky. Touya looked up in wonder at how large it appeared and how the brightness could still cast shadows on the landscape. Jin had walked away from the pond toward the tree line and was already using his cloak to snuggle up in as he sat down, his back against a tree.

"It's a full moon out tonight..." Touya said softly still gazing up into the night's sky. Jin looked at the ice demon perplexed before peering up at the glowing orb amongst all of the other shining diamonds. "The subsequent nights will only get darker from here on as the light wanes," he finished on a somber note. Jin took notice of the hidden meaning...the light was diminishing, as they would soon enter an indeterminate time of darkness.

"But don't forget...there is always a new moon on our horizon," Jin responded. Touya smirked a bit before nodding to let Jin know he had heard him. Touya walked over to Jin's tree cradling Hikari snuggly in his now cloaked arms. He sat down next to the taller demon sitting shoulder-to-shoulder...well, shoulder to mid-bicep. Remembering his earlier promise to let Jin carry her for the rest of the way back, Touya handed Einin gently over to Jin who eagerly took her into a hug in his large arms. The ice demon lay his head against the taller demon's arm, trying to get comfortable. Jin in turn wrapped his cloak around Touya's side as well making a nice little sandwich out of the three demons. The comrades fell quickly to sleep by each other's sides, though the speed was not due to any eagerness toward experiencing the darker tomorrow.


	6. The Cancerous Earth

The Cancerous Earth

Bleak. Stripped. Barren. Dead. Mere words, which came nowhere close to adequately describing the wasteland that was the Shinobi headquarters. The sky itself looked like heavy smog of blackened gases, either ready to drench the forests or descend at any moment upon the inhabitants of the land. Amongst the dark cloudlike forms, there were blotches of deep purple...a gaseous substance that's exact make up or proper name remained unknown even to the sect members themselves. The air lacked any of the vivacious electricity one finds after a rainstorm or just before a fresh snow; it was as dead as the soil itself.

The forest was composed of the occasionally hollowed, branchless trees dotting the landscape. The ones still standing were all lifeless and crumbling, the ability to live long gone due to a lack of nutrients, from the arid soil, and clean water; for not even the rains brought fresh sustenance, but instead were tainted because of the unnatural discoloration of the smog-like clouds. The dirt had neither water nor root systems to hold it together, which was needed to form clumps of soil, and even a wisp of wind would easily bring forth a land-based cloud of loosened dust.

Plant life, if it could even be called as such, was non-existent having long ago been disintegrated by the circumstances of the lands, before even Reisho's time as a Shinobi; this left large open areas of decomposed bark and wood in between the shells of trees. Stones held no mosses or fungi upon their rough surfaces, but instead lay bare to the elements of erosion either from harsh winds or the putrid liquids shed by the malignant clouds.

From a far distance, the acres of this darkened earth appeared to be nothing more than a blemish upon the otherwise lively expanse of the western territory. However, upon a closer inspection...well, one would wish they had never considered such an endeavor. Needless to say, there were no creatures of any kind living upon the dark terrain save for the sect members...though some beings would not call that living at all.

The caves of the Shinobi sect were no better than the area that enclosed them. A small rise of rocky crag jutted from the earth in the very center of the darkened blemish. This was simply the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, for beneath the deceptively miniscule mound of hard stone lay an entire infrastructure of cave systems, tunnels, and chambers; this tip was the only entrance into the underground world, and was heavily guarded by the Shinobi master, Reisho, and his awareness of the ki in the air. There was little comfort from the surrounding atmosphere to be found in these natural structures, for the initial cave more resembled a violent tumor, marring the already dying earth, than any welcoming sight after a long journey. At least that was the metaphor, which came to Touya's mind every time he returned to his "home".

He sighed heavily at the sight before him, now enclosed completely in his Shinobi issued cloak, as if the black cloth could shield him from the atmosphere. The smog always made Touya want to gag since it hanged in one's throat like a bad cold. Within the caves was the only place for cleaner air, for Jin was always more than happy to use his abilities to push out the stomach churning gases from the cave dwellings...at least while Touya was there.

Jin stood beside his friend just fifty feet from the initial cave entrance. His cloak, too, was completely covering his body, and he was grateful for the security it allowed Einin. Her presence would not be revealed until he and Touya deemed it proper. Her youki was far too diminutive for anyone to notice amongst the overpowering youki of the Shinobi clan members. She sat snuggled in Jin's large arms as he looked upon the caves with feelings of apprehension and disgust. Touya was right...who knew how long it would be before his eyes met another golden morning like the one they had seen yesterday?

"Well, home sweet bloody home, eh?" Jin said sarcastically. "Hope momma Reisho's here..." Touya shifted his eyes toward his taller friend, knowing that this humor was for the sake of breaking the tense atmosphere that only the two partners could feel...and besides, his jokes made Reisho seem easy to push aside even though that was not entirely the case. Touya was about to say something before he was interrupted.

"Well! Get in here damnit, or else I'll send out Bakken to make you both come in!" Jin's brow twitched in annoyance, his face grimacing into a look of intense dislike at the previously unheard, and unmissed, sound of Reisho's voice. It had always reminded Jin of some haughty Chihuahua that did not know how truly small, or insignificant it really was.

Touya frowned as well and closed his eyes before treading forward to be followed by Jin, who followed rather close letting his arm brush against the ice master's shoulder. The wind master had always taken to staying near Touya when in the caves, for that was when Reisho had often tried to continue his abuses...and Jin would no longer let Touya tell him to stand idly by while that happened. If Reisho tried anything to hurt his comrade, Jin would respond to keep Touya from harm. Touya seemed to sense this thought pop into the wind master's mind and nudged Jin's elbow with his shoulder. Jin turned to look at his friend. Touya leaned up to whisper just before entering the darkness of the cave's crevice.

"Do not give him a reason to reject our request...please Jin. Be the wiser demon I know you to be and pick your battles with care. He will try to grate against our scales just to give himself an excuse for more harshness...let him make the mistakes," he said finishing quickly as they passed the threshold of no return. Jin nodded at this and silently thanked Touya for being here with him. He just hoped the company would remain this way through their coming ordeals.

The two partners continued to walk through numerous passageways downward, toward the center of the infrastructure itself. Each tunnel became colder and colder as they moved into the bowls of the earth, and the ground became moister with the condensed water particles from the air collecting on its surface. The air itself felt damp and stepping upon the ground one could feel their feet sink slightly, like treading on the topsoil after a fresh rain.

'Farther and farther from an easy escape...' Touya noted in his consciousness as they continued. Soon they both reached a ten-foot tall doorway at the end of one of the many forks to the tunnels. The doors were darkened by age, damp air, and the carbon dioxide released from the torches attached to the walls every fifty feet. Shinobi had long since gotten accustomed to the dark and required little light in order to see their surroundings.

Einin mumbled slightly under Jin's cloak and he jumped nervously. He quieted her hastily by holding her closer and she calmed once he gave her his finger to nibble on. Jin was for once grateful that he was required to wear this cloak in Shinobi territory...the size of it concealed any extra bulk around his torso and thus kept Einin out of harm's way for a little longer.

The two Shinobi were still standing outside the doorway when the floor rumbled, which indicated that Reisho was aware of their presence at the entrance. The trembling earth made the door jiggle ajar slightly, and Touya took this as the usual signal to enter and brief with Reisho after their mission. The ice master and wind master stepped forth into the space beyond the doorway to meet with Reisho in his main living chamber.

The room was circular, its walls rough with age and damp with the common drips from the wet soils above them. Farthest from this entrance were three other doors, two of them directly behind Reisho's back from where he now sat in an almost throne-like chair; Jin often preferred to think that Reisho had a bunch of books underneath him when he sat in that chair just to make himself seem more dominating. Jin snickered inwardly at this.

There were more than a few torches of firelight along the wall and a large, wooden table near the back covered with aged documents and other various papers. The floor possessed one expansive rug from the carcass of a long dead and rather furry demon. It always made Touya's stomach curl to see an innocent beast stretched upon the ground, killed for nothing more than its skin...there was little honor in destroying life to make one's chambers look more luxurious.

The other doorways most likely led to Reisho's main bed chamber and possibly bathing rooms...Touya was rather relieved to be left in the dark as to which room Reisho slept in. Being the master of this sect he was permitted more comforts than the other Shinobi were; Jin and Touya had always shared a humble room, though neither ever complained about the accommodations or the company. The ceiling of this chamber was mainly composed of stalactites, which always made the ice master think of spikes ready to fall upon anyone who dared disagree with Reisho. Jin thought they were there to someday bring divine justice right down on Reisho's skinny little...

"Come here and report you idiots! I do not have all day!"

'Stupid Chihuahua!' Jin thought after having his favorite dream interrupted. Touya was the first of the pair to comply by walking forward and then Jin followed for good measure; just because they needed Reisho to be less than dubious for once, did not mean Jin had to show any respect just yet. They both stopped about three feet in front of the wooden table. Behind Reisho were two new trainees of the Shinobi art, both cloaked in black and becoming better versed in earth manipulation under Reisho's tutelage. However, Touya could already read in their eyes that they had been brought here unwillingly. After years of being a complete sect only to loose one of their better members, Gama, Reisho had been desperate to enlist more recruits...but after their defeat at the Dark Tournament, demons were less than likely to want anything to do with the declining Shinobi.

Bakken, or "Biggie" as Jin deemed him, stood leaning against the wall off to the left side of the table watching with a knowing smirk painted across his large brown face. Jin wanted to smack it right off...but he remembered Touya speaking of tact and decided to remain motionless. Reisho, who had seemed in a great hurry before, was now perusing his papers disinterestedly, deliberately making the partners wait on him like dependants.

Jin soon became bored and started playing a little Irish ditty in his head looking off into space without watching where his gaze lay. Touya remained attentive, knowing quite well that Jin was probably off in dreamland reciting one of those songs that had always irritated the ice master...especially when he had been trying to sleep. Touya's gaze upon Reisho never faltered, even when Bakken made idiotic faces, behind Reisho's back, at the ice demon trying to distract him enough to break his composure. Ironically Bakken was too involved with his tomfoolery to notice the earth master's fist speedily moving to meet his face.

"Stop that you imbecile! Do not disgrace me in front of our new trainees nor before these two...or would you like to take their places on the next mission?" Reisho asked rhetorically with a bite to his voice. Bakken rubbed his injured face and backed toward the wall to show submission. Jin's lip curled in disgust...he had never understood why Bakken had been so loyal and obedient to Reisho when the earth master had never given him anything in return, or any respect at all for that matter. Touya, on the other hand, empathized slightly with Bakken, though his pride would never allow him to openly admit it to anyone, save for Jin. He knew what it felt like to be trapped, feeling one had to respect someone who did not deserve it simply because they held a certain title or rank.

"Remove your hoods..." Reisho said airily as he pushed his papers aside, finally looking upon the pair. His black pupils held a kind of humor at ordering his renegade Shinobi around. His eyebrows cocked haughtily...in a manner than Jin felt welcomed a good deck to the face. 'Touya would'n be likin' that though would he?' Jin thought as he once again kept his desires at bay. To distract himself Jin rubbed Einin's little foot with his hand...the soft touch seemed to soothe the both of them.

Jin used his wind manipulation to lift his hood off of his head, while Touya simply used his hand. Both of the Shinobi had their heads exposed while all else was still swathed in ebony folds. Touya sighed mentally as he prepared to begin this ritual of returning to report their findings and mission status...because he knew Jin was certainly not going to do it.

"We have returned, Reisho, from our previous mission," he began now bringing out their notebooks from within his cloak. "Here are our noted reports of what we found in the half-breed village. I only beg, Sir, that due to the graphic nature, we not read them aloud." Jin silently thanked Touya for this request...he had always hated giving those gruesome accounts.

The ice demon leaned forward a little to place the notebooks on top of Reisho's desk. The earth master took them in hand and perused the first few pages of Touya's report. His brows jumped to the top of his head and his pupils dilated as he processed what was being read. Bakken had leaned over to look as well and the sight made his smirk grow; he seemed pleased with the findings rather than outraged. Jin's brow ticked but he did nothing more. He knew he would have his time later with "Biggie".

"The entire village?! Obliterated?!" Reisho started, now standing in indignation. His apprentices backed away frightened of his reaction; neither Touya nor Jin blinked once. "How is it the both of you could have failed so miserably while together?! I find your incompetence mind boggling..." Touya cleared his throat slightly to try and explain. Reisho snapped his gaze and gave a sharp nod, letting Touya know he should explain himself.

"Reisho, by the time we arrived to the village it had already been destroyed and burned to the ground. There was nothing to be done except record and report back here," Touya said calmly, careful to keep his face free of all unnecessary emotion.

"I gave you three freaking days to get to the village!" This visibly took Touya aback.

"But Sir, that was the problem...you only gave us three days to get there when you had known of the coming attack a whole week in advance," Touya started. Bakken snickered slightly as he saw Reisho bound around his desk to get in the ice demon's face. The earth master stared down at Touya's face in a domineering manner and clenched his fists. Jin's ears were tense and he took in all he was seeing, almost asking for a reason to begin defending his friend. But the ice demon gave no such signal, and Touya remained perfectly still. The wind master wondered how his friend could possibly keep his composure when faced by such a hateful demon as Reisho who'd done so much to hurt him in the past.

"Are you, of all demons, daring to question my leadership, you soulless ice pixie?!" he said harshly in a dangerously low voice. Jin could not hold back the growl in his throat at the bastardization of HIS nickname for Touya; luckily Reisho was so focused on the ice demon that he failed to hear Jin's grumbling. Touya swallowed absentmindedly, deftly searching his mind for the words that would placate Reisho for the time being.

"No not at all Reisho, Sir," he made sure to use the honorific tone. "I am merely stating the facts...we were not asked to leave until a week after first learning of the coming attack...I make no judgments upon your leadership. We arrived about a day too late." Reisho calmed and thought about what Touya had said.

"Well then perhaps the foul mouthed, imp should have flown you both there instead of dawdling on trails and the like," he exclaimed now turning his angry gaze to Jin, while moving a bit closer to the wind master. Jin stiffened and knitted his brows. 'Tryin' to blame me eh? Complimentin' you is a far more foul thing than anythin' that's ever come out of my mouth!'

"You, Sir, ordered me not to fly to the mission," Jin said putting an almost mocking emphasis on the word "sir"...it did not go unnoticed by Reisho, whose teeth gritted. "You had said that flyin' would attract too much attention and that bein' discrete was the best road to take...so that's what I was bein', Sir." Jin ceased his response waiting for whatever Reisho had to retort with. He gave a humph before stepping in front of the wind master while grabbing some papers from his desk.

"Discrete?! Mighty big talk coming from the renegade Shinobi that was reported in the woods not a day ago!" Jin flinched inwardly at this. 'Great...now he knows about the bloody scoundrels in the woods.' Touya turned his head at this and his mouth opened a little. He had hoped the news would not spread so quickly, but the ice demon did not in the least regret asking Jin to stop his torrent and allow the other demon to live...although they had inadvertently ensured a conflict with Reisho, Jin's decency lay intact and this was far more important than any present difficulties. Better to make Reisho enraged than be like him. They would just have to maneuver around this one.

"According to this report you accosted two demons, who were only walking down a trail at the time, and killed one of them instantly, without warning, before nearly killing the other! Do you know what could have happened if one of the Makai lords had stumbled upon this news before I hushed it down by paying off that maggot of a demon?! By the way that money is coming out of your salary! Not to mention you also stole...a freaking cow?! Are you brain dead?! Thieving a cow into the air right in front of its owner is not being discrete!" Reisho continued unable to hold in his indignation. "So don't you dare tell me about keeping a low profile, wind imp!"

"Reisho..." Touya started softly, before being met in the face by Reisho again.

"And you! You filthy little pixie! Where were you when this was going on?! I only allowed you to go with Jin because I thought you could handle him...keep him in check and following orders. That maggoty demon told me that you did nothing to keep Jin from killing his comrade! You'd get off too easily if I don't thrash you right h..." Reisho's hand only twitched forward the slightest bit in response to his torrent of words. At this Jin made a move to the left to face Reisho, at the same time stepping in front of Touya defensively. Though flattered by his friend's protective nature the ice demon sighed inwardly, 'Crap...here we go.'

"Don't ya' be blamin' Touya for any o' this blarney! He 'ad nothin' ta' do wit' it an' besides if not for Touya, I would'a killed the o'er one and ya' never would 'ave heard a word 'bout it, spewin' fro' 'is pie 'ole! Tha' lil' maggot, as ya' call 'im, I felt, posed a threat ta' me partner so I decided ta' protect 'im! So if anyone's ta' get screamed at for the dead body in ta' woods, let it be me...my actions and me consequences! An' no one will be thrashin' ANYONE ya' hear? An' watch who ya're callin' filthy, ya' master o' dirt n' dust!" Jin finished his rant and Reisho, ever so reluctantly, backed away to the edge of his desk while crossing his arms...trying to make it look like he was still in control.

The wind master's youki was reverberating off of the walls and Jin himself trembled slightly, trying to keep his energy contained. Touya stood wide-eyed staring at his partner. 'Jin must be incredibly angry,' the ice demon thought to himself. 'Whenever he gets like this, his accent becomes even thicker than usual...I couldn't even understand the first part of what he said! And Reisho...he must have noticed it too, and feared it enough to back away from Jin in front of his subordinates no less.' It had always taken a strong burst of emotion from within Jin to make him revert to his normal speech patterns of near-Gaelic pronunciation.

Jin's face relaxed a bit before he continued, "Besides...Biggie over there pulled a far worse one when he attacked a Makai lord's guards while on a mission...especially since he was drunk at the time!" Jin smirked a bit at the look of hate on Bakken's face. He had been hoping Reisho had forgotten the whole incident. However, by the look on the earth master's face, as he turned to face Bakken, Reisho held no thought of forgiveness in his cold eyes.

"Hmm...despite your belligerence...you have point there," Reisho said poignantly glaring at Bakken, who was now bowing his head with his back to the wall. Touya held his breath as Jin just looked on with a more amused countenance playing on his features. "Fine, fine. You are all lucky I am so lenient at this point...well I suppose it is of no consequence anyway. They were only half-breeds and mixed ones, correct? No real loss here save for the hush money," Reisho said rather nonchalantly. Jin tensed all over again, but this time Touya stepped to the left side of his friend to address Reisho.

"Yes...well..." Touya hesitated.

"Well?!" Reisho snapped, his patience growing thin once more. Touya turned to Jin and gave a quick nod. Jin grimaced, his body tense, and silently wished he could leave Reisho in the dark on this. Reisho looked expectantly at Jin, who still kept himself from lifting his cloak. Touya sighed, and carefully reached over to Jin's cloak and began pulling up the fabric.

"However," he started, revealing the squirming infant in Jin's arms to the dank air of the cave and the waiting eyes of Reisho. "There was a single survivor..."

TBC (aaack sorry about the delay...phew finally all that stuff is over with and I can get back to writing, hopefully this is a good chapter...please tell me if I need to correct stuff!...next chapter up soon! I have already finished half of it!! excitement face!)


	7. And the Earth Began to Tremble

**And the Earth Began to Tremble...**

Bakken's face contorted in confusion as he first glimpsed Einin cradled snuggly in Jin's arms, cooing in response to her newly revealed surroundings.

"What the hell is that puny thing?" he asked pointing, and looking genuinely confused when his gaze met the reddish toned skin of the little girl. "Looks like a red water rat!" Jin nearly exploded at this and he was too stupefied by Bakken's...well, stupidity to make any coherent sentences.

"Wha...yo...tsch...aan...ggfff...oh blimey, flies right o'er your head don't it Biggie?!" He finally managed to say angrily. Touya felt this was another matter he should handle himself before Bakken pushed Jin too far.

"This is a demon from the half-breed village that was ransacked, Bakken. An infant to be more specific, and the reddish appearance of her skin was caused by the fires that engulfed her home and killed her family. She was quite fortunate to come away with only these few scars," Touya explained, carefully watching Reisho's reaction. The earth master seemed unsurprised by the infant's presence. "Jin and I were curious as to what kind of demon she is...and I had proposed to Jin that with your skills, Reisho, we would find out easily enough." The ice master had intelligently left his sentence hanging with a compliment. Reisho's brows raised at this and his usual smug facial expression returned. Jin just grimaced and cocked an eyebrow. 'Jeez Touya, ya' just had to ask him to do it, not make his head any bloody bigger!' the wind master thought after seeing Reisho's reaction.

"Well, I suppose there is no harm in analyzing the infant...the information could be useful in the future," Reisho commented, patting the top of his table lightly to indicate he wanted her to be laid down there. Jin still refused to move, his hands already getting sweaty from knowing he would not have her in his arms for much longer. 'This is a mistake...we should'a just left when we had a three day head start,' he thought helplessly. Touya noted his friend's continued hesitation and very much regretted having to take her out of Jin's arms. Einin whimpered slightly at being removed from such a cozy place.

That sound nicked Jin's heart and his hands clasped slightly for the warmth that was no longer there before he brought his arms down to his sides. He felt cold and empty...only just now realizing that his Light did not come from some forest in the woods on a sunny morning, but from his "little bird".

Touya gently placed her onto the top of Reisho's desk and stood back, pensive and unaware of what Reisho would do next. The earth master stood and leaned over the infant with his hands behind his back...which reassured both of the Shinobi partners. Reisho closed his eyes and his brows furrowed slightly in concentration. Touya looked on closely as Jin's gaze fell poignantly on the earth master, wary of anything that might harm his "little bird".

There was a slight alteration in the aura of the room as Reisho sifted through the infant's miniscule youki with his own. After only a moment or two he leaned back upright and opened his eyes. Touya took back the confused infant and cradled her in his arms gently rubbing her small hand with his in the process. Reisho noted this action with his coal-like eyes.

"Why Touya, I did not know someone with out a drop of warmth in their heart could be so careful with a...fragile creature like an infant," Reisho said mockingly, emphasizing the word "fragile". Touya flinched inwardly at the memories of being thought of as heartless and vicious, but he pushed them aside realizing that soon he would have to make his request. "It was easy enough to see what she is...I am surprised that none of you could smell it on her..." Reisho continued pausing slightly to note the reactions of the Shinobi before him.

Jin and Touya looked more expectant than any of the other demons in the room, but finding nothing out of the ordinary Reisho proceeded, "She is a mixed breed of a bird demon and, oddly enough, an ice demon...quite uncommon even in villages such as that one." Touya's eyes widened considerably and Jin smiled proudly to himself at being so astute as to name her "little bird". "This is actually quite fortunate...rare demons fetch a much higher price at the markets than the ones I have been used to selling and we could sorely use the funds." At this both of the Shinobi's faces vaulted. Touya tried to conceal his reaction but he was too late. Reisho smirked knowingly as he looked into the ice demon's pupil-less eyes and saw panic dwelling within. 'Curse it...I've given us away!'

"Why the strange looks gentlemen? You knew I was going to sell her off...we always do. And you both know well enough that even if we were to take on another trainee we would not have enough food to go around," Reisho questioned teasingly. Jin was not oblivious to what was happening...he noticed the change in Reisho's tone, and its implications made his skin crawl. Touya decided it was the best time to try and make their request, before Reisho became too attached to the thought of extra money in his pocket.

"Actually Sir, I was wondering if...we could take the next day or two off in order to find her a suitable home. A child as small and weak as this would surely be of no use to someone as a servant or laborer," Touya said, silently pleading in his mind. Jin was panicking in his soul at this time, desperately hoping Touya held some trump card that could get them out of this mess.

"No you weren't..." Reisho said almost sweetly. This sent chills down Touya's spine, remembering that tone from unpleasant instances in his past. His eyes met the tabletop briefly almost giving up hope. Reisho's voice then rose dangerously.

"You both wanted to go off with that THING and leave the sect, didn't you?! You would abandon us in a time of great need just like that! I will sell that THING to a demon brothel before I ever let IT leave here with the likes of you two!" At the sound of hearing Einin being called a "thing" Jin stepped further forward to face Reisho who was now standing as well.

"Ya' don't need us Reisho! Once Gama died at the tournament, he got replaced by those two little mini-Reishos o'er there...just let us go already! Ya' have no need for us...just allow us to leave ya' and ya' wont ever hafta see this imp's face ever again, I swear to that!" Jin said looking down at the earth master. Touya just stood there holding Einin close with a helpless expression on his face. His part of this plan, keeping Reisho calm and acting professional, had miserably come to an end...but luckily he still had Jin to keep going with whatever he had. Then suddenly out of the blue, a thought came to his mind as realization hit him in the face nearly making him gasp.

"You watch your mouth imp! Besides there might not be any 'us' once Touya hears my proposal," Reisho announced suggestively. Touya turned, at the reference to his person, and met Reisho's gaze, while Jin just looked suspiciously at the earth master. "Touya...if you hand over that infant to me and promise to stay in the sect, I will make it worth your while living here. I still recall that young ice demon, of not too long ago, who wanted to be the strongest of his kind and with one less mouth to feed, your desire can be fulfilled. You will no longer be an ice demon...but I will make you my equal partner as an Ice Master, with title and privilege! It will have been earned. Help me to bring back that honor you speak so fondly of!"

Touya's pupils constricted and his mouth hanged limp. Jin look astounded and turned to face the ice demon who was still holding Einin close to his chest. He watched as his friend's face contorted into a look of mental anguish. The wind master gasped as a thought sunk into his mind, 'He's...actually considerin' it?! No, that can't be...Touya's not that kind of demon!...Is he? No! He would'n leave us so easily!' The ice demon still stood there looking pained, his eyes now closed.

Reisho was smirking evilly to himself as he sat back in his chair once more. "Well?" he asked with a welcoming tone. "Remember pixie, leave here and who knows how far behind you I will be...even if you should find some sunny sky, I will never let you enjoy it...nor will the master's of other sects, whom I would alert immediately."

Touya still faced downward unable to meet anyone's gaze, as if he had not heard Reisho's threat. Jin could only look on dejectedly, feeling more helpless than ever before, 'Touya truly wants that life in the light...wants a kind of peace, which Reisho's just offered him; he's had such a hard time in the past...che, and what help was I in his times of need...I never was able to protect him from every instance of abuse, nor every heart ache he felt. Most of the time...he comforted me at many a mission with my weak stomach for gore. What must it be like to be the strong one in a pair like ours, who must mind o'er the faint of heart? To always take care of yourself and another being. My only friend's never had his own peace of mind and he'll never have it if he leaves with me...but I don't...want to part from him...I can't...not before I return the favor,' Jin thought as he kept his eyes on Touya and Einin.

"I..." Touya began softly, his voice trembling almost close to the edge of despair and tears. All of the demons in the room waited poised on the ice demon's response. Jin prayed that all of those heart to heart talks in the woods had stuck with Touya and that he would follow his own good advice. "I'm so, so sorry Jin..."

The words fell upon Jin's ears like a rock falling down a well...they echoed slightly in his mind before hitting his spirit with a thud. Reisho beamed and folded his hands together in triumph. Touya then raised his head, eyes glistening and expression angry.

"I'm sorry...for not trusting you when you said to stay clear of this malignant tumor of a sect!" Touya said his voice growing louder and angrier. Jin's fallen face lifted at these words, his ears sprung back into their elfish state as he moved closer to stand by Touya who was now facing him directly. Reisho looked indignant and beyond words. Bakken just looked confused and the trainees looked like they agreed with Touya, but were too afraid to do anything about it save for possibly running away.

Before Reisho could articulate a syllable, Touya turned on him quickly with pure rage in his eyes. Jin had never seen this side to the ice demon before.

"You knew! You knew all along and never did a damn thing!" Touya nearly yelled at Reisho who was now standing to face his opponent.

"Are you mad?! What nonsense is spewing out of that frigid little face?!" he retorted, genuinely perplexed. Even Jin had no idea what his friend was saying, but he decided to stay quiet and let Touya continue. Just at that moment, Jin's superb ears picked up a small cracking sound. It came from above, but he dared not to try and see what it was. He honed his hearing in on the scratching and could only classify it as the sound of a blade being drawn across glass or ice. The wind master listened even harder while his partner silently fumed trying to find the words to express himself. It then dawned on Jin like the fresh golden morning of yesterday. 'Touya's tryin' somethin' with his ice abilities!' Indeed, the ice demon was using his powers to shift the rock above their heads by making the dampness within the cave walls crystallize. This made the rock structure expand and thus easily breakable. Touya was creating a way out...

"You knew the truth about the Light...about what it really consisted of!" Touya yelled again. Reisho looked completely in the dark and Bakken's comprehension had not improved much either.

"What are you saying you fool?!"

"I had always wondered how you could have lost that day to someone like Kuwabara!" At this Reisho's pupils ticked visibly before trying to recover. Jin now knew his friend was onto something. "You let him beat you!" the ice demon finally accused.

Reisho sputtered and retorted, "I would never have jeopardized our victory...all of that money could have been ours if not for that damned human wretch!"

"You coward...just admit it! I already have you figured out. Hn, I was just to naive and overly docile to notice until now," Touya spat back.

"Coward?! I?! Oh, you will pay dearly for that remark!" he threatened, but Touya seemed not to care.

"You are a coward! We had the chance for victory in our grasp, and you lost it for us because you were afraid! All we had worked for and sacrificed...all to support your little farce!" Touya was now yelling full throttle and he handed Einin over to Jin, who was more than happy to hold her close again. He covered her little ears with her swaddling clothes, to protect her from Touya's enraged tone.

"Oh and what was I afraid of supposedly, ice pixie?!" Reisho questioned slamming his fists on his desk in anger. "Huh?! What was I afraid of?!"

"The Light!" Touya screamed. Reisho stopped all motion and just stared at Touya. He then laughed almost nervously and tried to regain his composure.

"That's foolishness! I was the one who demanded what our prize would be in the first place!" he said. Jin noticed his change in demeanor, and waited on pins and needles for an explanation.

"Yes you did request that the island be our prize...but then once you realized what we were fighting for...you began to fear it," Touya started. "It all makes sense now...the fact that you don't want us to leave...how we lost in the tournament...why we are even here now...it's all because you're afraid. You have been a Shinobi so long, you have become too comfortable with the dark and your equally suffering companions.

"When you arrived at Hanging Neck Island and saw what it held for us, sunshine, clean water, actual living things dwelling in the forests, you also knew what it would mean if we actually won." Touya paused for a minute his voice tense. "We wanted so badly to live there, in the sun light...but you wanted something else. You wanted the Light at first...but then you realized what the Light really meant for the rest of us...it meant leaving _you_!" Reisho just stared at first, his face holding an unreadable expression. He numbly sat back into the chair. Touya decided to go on.

"And you could not take that...if we won then we would all leave you, even Bakken...alone...to your hateful self! That is your greatest fear Reisho...the Light for us Shinobi and the loneliness it was sure to bring you. That is what you knew and did not even tell your own sect mates! You knew that the Light was not a place or time of day or some sparkling, golden morning...the Light lies more in who you share those times and places with. And you knew that even with the island in your possession...you would not have that other vital half of the Light to fill the voids in your life. So you always tried to fill that position...with me in your bed!

"All of these years I never noticed, how forcefully you sought companionship, either by trying to make me come to you or by forcing others to join the sect against their will. You wanted to keep us all here with you, because unlike the rest of us...you were satisfied with this life in the dark, if you can call it a life, as long as you had others to share in your misery! You were selfish enough to ruin our chances at happiness just so you would not have to face the unfamiliar world outside alone.

"I wonder Reisho...how long has it been since you even went on a mission? How long has it been since you truly gazed upon the outside world, save for the Dark Tournament? Months? Years?...Millennia?" Touya asked. Reisho made no move to answer and simply stared at the ice demon. Jin was once more astounded by the ice master's ability to see into a person's very insecurities.

"You were such a coward that you could not bare to depart from this cave or let even Jin leave you alone here. Bakken was the one you sent out to find these two novices! You have kept just enough members here to fill your void...and your fear explains why you took my rejection of you so badly. But guess what Reisho?" Touya asked leaning onto the desk, putting his fists on the hard surface. "I...am...not...you. Not anymore. I used to be afraid of disobeying you...I used to be afraid of the unfamiliar light and even change itself. Even now...hn, I am a little apprehensive. But one thing I know for sure is that my fear of the light does not come close to outweighing my desire for it! I will no longer be kept from having full life because you are too cowardly to step outside. You may think you have kept me from having any hope of leaving this dank hole...but I have had the half of the Light with me, which has eluded you for the past hundreds of years, and I find it ironic that you bringing him here, as your fellow Shinobi has also been part of your undoing." Jin quirked his brow and his mouth hanger open slightly unsure of who Touya was speaking of...at least until he felt a hand smaller than his own place itself on his strong shoulder and give a slight squeeze.

"I will go with _Jin_ and you cannot offer me anything close to what he is worth as my comrade! And another thing..." Touya said as he moved his hand off of Jin's shoulder to close the gap between his face and Reisho's stunned one. The ice demon's face looked drawn tight like he was about to cry, as if bringing forth unwanted memories, which Jin had never seen nor was he sure he ever wanted to witness such an event. "...I am not the one with ice running through his veins or a heart of cold stone. Despite what my demeanor may allude to, and what the rest of my sect may have said to me or thought of me...I am capable of love and am loved...which is why I will be able to conquer my fears, while you will remain trapped within yours. As long as your heart is cold Reisho, it won't matter if you have a single companion or are in a crowd of millions...it will always seem like you are the only one there." Touya pulled back and stood erect before Reisho. Jin just stared, his pupils constricted in stunned awe of his demon partner, until he shook himself out of his stupor and leaned in toward Reisho.

"Yeah...what he said." Touya nearly fell over anime style before remembering where he was and that Reisho had yet to really respond at all. "Wooo wee! Ya' really laid him out didn't ya'?" Jin asked standing back up.

"No one calls me an ice pixie and gets away with it...except for you of course," Touya said a little more light-heartedly. His facial expression then became unreadable as the ice demon turned to face Reisho again. The earth master sat almost slumped in his chair with his left hand hovering over his mouth and his eyes downcast. Touya waited apprehensively for the earth master to make his move. 'I hope my plan will work...only the slightest cue from Reisho and I'll give Jin the signal to get out. Jin may not know it yet...but in this vulnerable state, Reisho is far more dangerous than before. He now feels the need to defend himself, like a snake coiling before the strike...let's hope that Jin shows the same tact I know he is ...'

"Ya' hear that dust bunny! You're finished! He he he, ah I wish I had said somethin' like that long ago ya' lil' Chihuahua!" Jin said getting in Reisho's face while grinning the toothiest of grins. Touya sweat dropped, '...capable of.' The ice demon's gaze then moved up to meet the earth master's face once more. What he saw made him jump back slightly and gasp. At this sound Jin turned around to his comrade with a questioning countenance.

"Wha'?" Jin asked before tracing Touya's stare to Reisho's eyes. The wind master grimaced a little and backed away. Reisho's eyes were now glaring blatantly at Jin, the pupils wide and deep ebony like an abyss from which beasts spring forth. Jin had ever seen them this way before, his eyes normally quite constricted, and the rims of the eyes were now a deep red topped off by his linear eyebrows. Just as Jin backed far enough away to stand right next to Touya, a wave of youki emanated from the seated earth master and reverberated off of the cave walls. A small rumbling from beneath their feet could be heard like a shockwave after an initial earthquake. "Hm," Jin muttered. He then leaned down to Touya's height to whisper in his ear. "Ya' really made him snap this time, eh?"

Touya's face vaulted into a stupor before he whispered back harshly, "Me?! You were the big elf that got in his face just now...he never once reacted when I was speaking!" The ice demon was interrupted when the dust from the cave walls started sifting through the air and the earth began to tremble. Reisho now moved his hands down to the arms of his chair and clenched them until he broke his sculpted throne. He started supporting his weight on the shattered chair arms as he struggled to articulate.

"You...none of you will leave me! If you still plan on escaping then we will all be together in Hell!!" he rasped before making the earth erupt into stronger vibrations. Touya and Jin stood close together and the ice demon held into Jin's forearm to steady himself. Bakken looked disturbed after hearing Reisho's obsessive declaration and he backed toward the wall a little more, though the earth master's attention was hardly focused on anyone other then the pair before his throne. Einin had begun crying and whimpering once the quake had started though it could barely be heard above the deafening rumbling. Jin then placed her in between his own clothes and his chest to keep her secure. He wondered when Touya would take advantage of this commotion to begin their escape. Touya absent-mindedly brushed Einin's hair with his hand to calm her as Jin just kept holding her close to his sternum. The ice demon was waiting for a distraction, something that would bring Reisho's gaze off of them so that he could signal to Jin to begin an escape. He did not have to wait much longer as the two trainees both leapt out of their daze of fear and bolted for the only way out, behind the wind master and ice demon.

Reisho's hand snapped forth as he nearly shrieked, "This disloyalty will cost you!" He brought down stalactites from the ceiling to plunge into the torsos of the petrified novices. Jin scrunched his countenance at the sound of crunching, and as Touya faced the carnage blood met his face and tunic in splatters...stains of dead innocents that would never leave that cloth.

He then flung himself onto Jin's front, and the wind master would have blushed if he had not heard Touya scream, "Up now!!" Jin obeyed clasping Touya and Einin securely to his person as he used his wind abilities to shoot up toward the ceiling above. Reisho had no time to react to this swift movement, as his eyes found no ice demon or wind master standing before him once his attention turned away from the dead apprentices.

Touya furrowed his brows in concentration using his abilities to shatter the earth above his and Jin's heads, and the ice expanded to crumble the hard earth in one burst of Touya's youki. The rocky soils rained down in large chunks as Jin did his best to avoid hitting any of them, knowing that his precious cargo still clung precariously to his body. He flew up past the edge of the top soil ground almost one hundred feet up from the chamber's floor before moving out and away from this newly made cliff's edge. Jin finally set down his comrade, who stumbled slightly trying to get used to the gravity again. He breathed shakily and tried to calm his nerves; as long as he had known Jin he had never let the wind master take him for a flight for very long as it was somewhat of a source of anxiety for the ice demon. Jin held out a hand to steady Touya as the ice demon turned around to face the gaping void in the earth. Dust flew up from within after having all of the heavy rocks and dirt plummet into the cave. It sifted through the air and created a large dust bowl effect around the pair spreading to the edges of the lifeless forest. The void in the ground was lengthening as the earth cracked jaggedly from side to side forming a kind of ravine stretching for over four hundred feet.

Touya squinted into the dense beige fog unable to see much of anything. He held onto Jin's tunic to keep them together as a safety measure...getting lost in this mist was not the best way to escape. The wind master stood perfectly still, sending out his youki to search for anyone that might have made it out of the void. Suddenly Jin tensed and grabbed Touya's hands within his own, bringing them to his chest. This confused Touya at first, but once his hands met the small bundle he knew what his partner was telling him to do. 'He must want me to take Einin so that he can fight whatever he's sensed coming...I guess I am out of this battle...' the ice demon thought as he took the infant gently and, similarly to what Jin had done, placed her in between his tunic and his chest holding her tight.

Jin stood as tall as he could muster as he faced the great chasm in the ground. He was poised for battle with his fists balled as ready weapons by his side and his jaw set determined to win. 'I have more to fight for now...don't be pushin' me...' Jin motioned to Touya to move farther back and the ice demon complied until all he could see of Jin was a shadow in the fog. Einin was still crying slightly, but rightfully so after such a horrendous series of events, and Touya tried to hush her by putting his nose in her hair, nuzzling her head soothingly. "Shhh...it's okay" he whispered lightly, knowing that their silence could be what would save them from an unfortunate confrontation.

Jin still searched through the dust for the trace of youki...then it hit him like a volt of electricity and he turned around to yell with panic evident in his tone. "Touya! Move now!" The ice demon snapped his head up and struggled to decipher which way Jin wanted him to run...then he felt a spark of youki and moved just too late before the hit came to meet his head.

Touya had managed to keep Einin from harm, but at the expense of being hit harshly on the forehead as he turned to the side, and he sailed threw the air to hit the ground, skidding twenty feet from his original spot. The ice demon lay on his back with his hand to his head, pulling it away to reveal red fluid dripping down from the palm upon his face. His vision blurry and ears filled with the sound of both a crying infant and a frantic wind master's calls, Touya struggled to sit up against the waves of dizziness. He then flinched as he felt hands upon his shoulders, only to settle again once he recognized to whom they belonged.

Jin set his head on top of Touya's left shoulder as he wrapped his large arms around his charges. "Gods Touya, are ya' alrigh'?!" he asked before he felt Touya stiffen at the sight of a shadowy figure approaching. Jin growled inwardly, his face scrunched into a sneer, and stood defensively with one leg in front of and one behind the ice demon. Touya relaxed only a little bit when he saw that from the mists came Bakken and not Reisho; though the brown faced demon appeared to be enraged and more fierce than Touya had ever seen him before. "Back it off Biggie before I blow your arms off with gale force ya' hear?!" Jin growled hearing his voice echo within the confines of the mist. Touya struggled to stand behind Jin but found his head too heavy despite the fact that more blood fell from his wound onto his hand. He ripped some cloth from his lower tunic and used it to slow the bleeding. 'Why would Bakken dare face Jin...he knows he's afraid of him...then again he may not be in the most logical frames of mind right now.' Bakken's glare fell not on the strong wind master but pierced through the mist toward where Touya sat.

"You bastard...so beloved and desired..." Touya squinted at this, Bakken making no sense at all to either of the comrades. "Little slut like you taking my rightful promotion from me just because Reisho needed to snag some tail! That position should have been offered to me! I've been here longer you bastard!" Touya did not even have the chance to respond to Bakken's display of jealously as Jin swept himself forward to punch Bakken right in the chest. Touya grimaced at the sound of the sternum snapping and Bakken backed up...he had never been much of a match for Jin in the past and nothing had changed since then.

"How many times do I hafta' say watch your mouth Biggie?!" Jin growled before continuing his assault upon Bakken's person...the Shinobi never had a chance to defend himself and Jin finally sent him up into the air with his Tornado Fists, graciously leaving him his arms. Bakken fell back with a force pushing him earthward as he plummeted off into the forest of broken trees. Jin did not care if Biggie was still alive or not, for he certainly would not be moving his spine for a long while after those attacks. He wiped his hands and turned back to where Touya sat, only to choke on his next words as a stone sword sliced past his ribs. He flew himself to the side just in time to avoid being hit in the back directly by the second armed hand.

Reisho was covered in tan dirt, his clothes torn from the rain of rocks back in the cave...rather fitting for him in Jin's mind but he had no time to dwell on that thought as the earth master made sharp daggers of stone come up from the ground beneath the wind master. Jin flew up and away from these, dodging and swerving as the earth moved up higher. In no time there was a perpetual forest of tall rocky stalagmites and Jin positioned himself on the back side of one of them waiting to catch Reisho off guard...but his chance never came as the rocks suddenly fell to dust and small bullet sized pebbles shot through the air striking their target before the wind master had the opportunity to dodge. Jin grimaced as he hit the ground, the pain keeping him from concentrating his mind on flying to safety. Immediately he felt Reisho's spry body on top of him beating upon his skull with his Armor of Clay. Reisho was frantic and kept ripping at whatever was in front of his fists. Jin, though stronger than Reisho, was struggling to keep his mind from falling into unconsciousness, for the blows were too sharp to fight against even though Jin's hands held Reisho's hair harshly.

"You stole him from me! How many times did that whore lie with you when I offered him a perfectly good deal?! You kept him from being with me you imp! You stole that pixie from my life!! When you are dead I will take him as I should of all those years ago; you hear me?!" Reisho kept screaming as he continued to beat into Jin's face, which was now bleeding profusely. Just as Jin felt he could take no more abuse he heard a piercing whistle through the fog. Reisho turned abruptly from his assault to face directly behind him.

"What now?!" he asked heatedly as blue bullets of ice and light hurdled toward the earth master without mercy. Touya's Shards of Winter sprung from where the ice demon knelt on the ground, only now gaining back his full vision. Reisho's eyes widened before he could process the pending danger...the ice shards ripped through his form propelling him away from the wind master who was still reeling from the attack on his head. Touya then found the adrenaline rush from his anger to get up and run swiftly to the other side of Reisho near the chasm's cliff. Touya then shifted his attack so that Reisho was being forced into the ice shards as they shot against him. The earth master was being torn apart like a body left to a pack of wolves, each shard bigger and sharper than the last, as if he had fallen through many a broken windowpane. The shards stuck into his flesh as Touya's attack finally ceased, and the earth master fell to the ground struggling to breath despite the visibly bleeding wounds in his chest. "Jin could not have stolen something you never owned in the first place, Reisho," Touya said harshly standing his ground thirty feet from the fallen master.

"Where is your heart...Touya..." he asked scratchily, as Touya looked thoughtful.

Jin had found the strength to get up, and began making his way over to Reisho and stopped right over the gurgling body. Reisho was trying to breath and did not seem to realize that he was creating a large puddle of blood, nearly five diameters outward from his body, every time he attempted to draw air into his lungs. 'Touya must of hit every vein in his body...really is the only way to stop Reisho when he gets started,' Jin thought.

The ice demon visibly relaxed at seeing Jin standing and he bent his knees slightly to take a much-needed breath, his hand now holding his head once more in pain. Jin just looked at Reisho, who was obviously dying from his innumerable injuries as blood came out from his throat. Jin felt an ever so slight bit of pity for him, and decidedly raised his hand to bestow some merciful and eternal sleep upon the earth master...but Reisho hacked up more air and blood in protest as Jin struggled to hear what he was uttering.

"You...cannot kill me...that ice pixie...has...already ripped...my heart from my chest..." he rasped, raising his only remaining arm into the air toward Jin. The wind master looked suspiciously at it before moving his own hand back toward Reisho...then the earth master's face contorted. "But if I...can not have him...neither can...you," he finally managed, as Reisho's hand fell backward over his head to hit the ground with his last bit of strength. This sent a shock wave through the ground as a jagged crack toward Touya and Einin; Jin's world became utterly silent as he watched like a movie with painfully slow motion, as the ground surrounding his partner cracked and the expanse of the earth beneath his feet slid into the ravine shattering as it dropped. Touya plummeted downward out of the wind master's sight. The wind master lost all thought in his mind as his only friend fell to his death...Jin took only one second more to jolt out of shock and flung himself toward the edge. Jin propelled himself down the cliff's face moving with gravity and his own wind abilities to catch up with the falling ice demon, who reached upward too shocked to comprehend he was plummeting. Jin used one last gust of strength to force himself down to Touya's level and grasp him close with Einin in the center. But by this time Jin knew they were moving too fast to pull back up and that he would have to use the length of the ravine to slow down. Touya held to Jin for dear life as he felt them become more and more parallel to the ground. Jin was using his abilities to move side ways but was having trouble slowing down as they came closer and closer to the hard rock bottom. Jin finally managed to pull up slightly and now the trio was skidding dangerously close to the rocky ground. The wind master knew he would soon hit the ravine's end and if that happened...he might lose more than his own life. He then knew what he had to do and turned mid air with his back facing the ground to look at Touya before he let his back crash mercilessly into the rocks below. Touya was pulled out of his shock when he felt the jolt and heard flesh tearing. 'He's using his own body as a brake!'

They were skidding at 40 miles per hour across the jagged floor and soon came to a final stop with a thud, just ten feet from the wall of the ravine. All was now silent as a trail of dust was left in Jin's wake and the dirt began to settle once more.

Touya coughed in the dust cloud and blinked his dirt-covered eyes. His faulted frantically as he felt down his chest for Einin. His heart leapt when his ears registered that she had been crying for quite some time, but miraculously remained unharmed. Einin tears mingled with the dirt on her face as Touya rubbed his face upon her own.

"Like...music to me ears..." Touya heard a raspy whisper and gasped remembering Jin. He got off of his comrade to let him breathe better and held back a gulp at seeing how much blood was on the rocks beneath the wind master. Touya then turned his gaze behind him, and grimaced at seeing a long trail of red and wetness streamed along the ravine floor. "Can...I hold her?" Touya snapped back his attention to Jin, amazed that his friend could still be conscious let alone speak.

"Jin, my friend, you need to rest now. You've sustained numerous injuries and we need to get you some medical atten..." Touya began listing off before a hand met his mouth gently. He looked at his partner's face and though it held signs of burning pain from his torn apart back, which Touya was afraid to like at, it was also very calm.

"Touya...I got me medicine right here...so pipe down and let's enjoy this victory..." Jin said lowly as he pulled Touya down to his left side. The ice demon complied, blushing slightly at how he was laying his head next to Jin's chest, not wanting to hurt his back anymore, and Jin gently took the still whimpering Einin from his friend to hold her close in one arm with his other around Touya's head. He sighed contentedly at feeling the warmth around him.

"Jin?" The wind master turned his head a little to the left.

"Hmm?" he asked, his eyes now closed.

"I really would prefer it if you let me tend your wounds...your nose looks broken and there is little of you that is not covered in blood," Touya stated looking up at Jin's face. He really was worse for wear and needed some medical attention if his wounds were going to heal properly.

"Ah, but I would rather lie here and listen..." he sighed contentedly. Touya looked perplexed and, as usual, almost kept himself from asking.

"Listening to what?" he asked now leaning on one elbow, facing the wind master. He wondered what could be so important after such an ordeal of excruciating events and possible heartache.

"...to the sound o' both o' your hearts beatin'...lettin' me know I'm not alone anymore," Jin answered genuinely. Touya's eyes widened at this admission and wondered if Jin's head really had lost too much blood to be thinking straight. "Ya' know...I really used to be...no better than Reisho..." Jin began, struggling to find the right words.

"My friend, please rest...you've been through a lot today and..." Touya protested before being quietly interrupted.

"No...this needs to be said...and I have been through no worse than what you had to go through when my friendship failed ya'..." Touya knew Jin was referring to Reisho's violent temper. "I...was never afraid of bein' alone...I actually felt the opposite, no need for it at all. My spirit was too...flighty to hold anythin' dear to me heart. I was as shallow as my personality comes across to others...just some one-dimensional bungler who could leave any relationship without remorse or missin' anyone. Like Reisho often said...I am the wind ever movin' and blowin' passing o'er everythin' with out much o' a thought, nothin' holdin' me down...cause that way I felt freer...but..." he paused holding Einin closer. "You've grounded me...the both of ya'...and I don't feel any less free nor would I ever want to fly away from ya'." Touya looked at his friend unsure of what to say.

"Ya' may never have noticed Touya...but I often listen to your heart beatin' with these ears o' mine, cause it assured me that _you_ hadn't up an' left me behind like I would've in the past...ya' made me better than what I used ta' be, people are important ta' me now and I'm a changed demon because of it...thank you." Jin looked like he was close to dozing off with his lids feeling heavier and heavier with each passing moment. Touya grinned genuinely and placed his hand on Jin's over Einin's small torso.

"Hn, and you have changed me you big elf...but never failed me," the ice demon said as he looked up to the clearing dust cloud. They had both changed, surely for the better...neither were alone and both felt more fulfilled after even this harrowing experience.

Jin chuckled at being called elf and moved his other hand to clasp over Touya's before muttering "ice pixie" as he finally drifted off to sleep. Touya smiled looking at his pair, the smaller one now sleeping atop the larger snoring one. He then remembered the last thing Reisho had ever said to him and felt that, despite the earth master's wrong doings, he should at least honor the dead with an answer, 'It was here Reisho...my heart was here...and always will be.'

TBC...eep sorry about delays....i just don't like writing action scenes...so much to keep my mind on...but ah first book of my long story done....now to just keep writing.....be ready for the next installment!!! HD


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